Through poems that move between the two languages, McIlwraith explores the beauty of the intersection between<em> nêhiyawêwin</em>, the Plains Cree language, and English, <em>âkayâsîmowin</em>. Written to honour her father’s facility in nêhiyawêwin and her mother’s beauty and generosity as an inheritor of Cree, Ojibwe, Scottish, and English, <em>kiyâm </em>articulates a powerful yearning for family, history, peace, and love.