Alycia Two Bears
Biography
Alycia Two Bears is a member of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation who calls Mohkinstsis home. A mixed blooded iskwew; her mother Karen Hines is a white settler of Swedish descent and her father is Keith Head, also a member of Mistawasis Nehiyawak First Nation. A single mother to five children, she is an advocate for home births, midwives and access to the best birth options for every birthing body.
Alycia, a Birth Keeper, is an aspiring midwife who practices Birthing as Ceremony. Raised in the late Sharron Proulx-Turners Sweat lodge, the teachings received in a Two Spirit, female led and focused community are near and dear to their heart; The safest place to grow spiritually, particularly as a bisexual iskwew. She believes supporting pregnant and birthing bodies is one of the greatest actions we can embrace to grow strong, healthy, viable communities. Alycia works within several community endeavors to bring teachings around Moon Time, Sexuality, Prenatal, Pregnancy, and Birthing to the urban community.
Alycia’s academics lay in early childhood education. They received their first degree, Bachelor of General Studies, minor in Canadian Studies, from the University of Calgary in 2006. She then went on to graduate from the University of Calgary’s Masters of Education program, with a Bachelors of Education, with the focus on early childhood education, in 2008.
Alycia has published two poetry collections, "Two Spirit; Stories, Sex and The Ceremony Behind it All" in 2023 and 'The Feast" in 2025. Alycia has been the recipient of the Kemosa Scholarship in 2020 and 2025. This is an award for Indigenous, Metis and Inuit mothers who are writers in Alberta, established by the late Nhung Tran-Davies. She has been published in magazines, anthologies and research such as New Tribe Magazine, Red Rising, Canadian Poets, and Wilding & Sprout. Alycia has hosted poetry workshops through the Writers Guild of Alberta and Arts Sparrow Society. She is often writing about decolonization, Two Spirit identity, single parenthood, grief, love, relationships and everything messy life has to offer.
Micro-interview
I did not read poetry in high school! I thought poetry was the boring resolve of dead white dudes that managed to use rhyme in the most boring ways. It actually turned me off poetry.
I started writing poetry 12 or 13 years ago. I was using the writing process as a way to cope with my major life transitions and when sharing it friends and other poets, they went, "oh woman you have a way with words". I joined writing groups and poetry sites after that and found a community in these realms who genuinely embraced me as I navigated this new identity. I have always loved writing, words and lyrics. Music is a whole nervous system extension to me and it took me a while to realize I have always used the realm of words to carry me through life. I didn't start thinking of myself as a poet until a muse told me, "we see each other in the seas, like fisherman, give the nod as we pass by. I saw you from far away and wanted to be closer so I could look into your eyes and see the soul of the words that belong to a poet". Once I started submitting pieces to magazines and being accepted, I genuinely believed I belonged to the world of poets.
To share the worlds aches and injustices so that we can make a collective shift to something else. To show the humanity of ourselves so others do not feel alone or invisible. To put a name to something we feel entrenched in our blood, our heart, our anxiety, our depression, our joy, our creativity.
Where There's a Wall by Joy Kagawa
