Chief R. Stacey Laforme's Beneath the Surface: Poems and Their Stories

Reviewed by Raphaela Pavlakos

(Durvile & UpRoute, 2025)

Chief R. Stacey Laforme is the former Gimaa (Chief) of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, a poet, and a storyteller. Beneath the Surface: Poems and their Stories was published in October 2025 by a small Canadian press, Durvile and UpRoute, and is Chief Laforme’s third book of poetry. What makes this book so unique is that each poem is accompanied by a brief story telling the reader about the poem’s context and construction. This helps the reader unpack each poem and build connections between Laforme’s work and their own experiences, and in some cases, by knowing the intended lesson Laforme hopes the reader walks away with, readers can apply each poem’s lessons to their own lives. Ultimately, the story-poem dynamic of each work helps to build Laforme’s strong narrative voice and allows a reader to connect to Laforme’s work and experiences. While this poetry has strong community stories and lessons which are valuable for Indigenous audiences, it can be just as easily impactful on a settler reader; many of the poems are actually geared towards a general settler-Canadian audience in the hopes of connecting, educating, and building a stronger sense of settler-Indigenous relations through empathy and understanding.

Beneath the Surface includes 56 poems and their corresponding contextual stories behind each poem’s creation. Beginning with an epigraphical poem with the same name as the collection, the reader enters into the book with a hopeful tone, where the speaker is dreaming of a “day when a united people/ realize, we have never been alone” because we have “always had each other”. Laforme also includes a dedication at the outset of the book: Beneath the Surface is for “every smile [Laforme] caused by accident or on purpose”, followed by his Introductory note to introduce readers to his goal in writing the book. The goal identified in the Introduction is to tell the stories behind each poem, include some previously-published poems from earlier poetry collections in order to add context, so that each poem can “spring to life in your mind, and take you on your own journey of exploration of the mind, body, and spirit”. 

Each story gives the poem it responds to a new layer of meaning, a new context. While a reader could just read the poems, derive meaning from them and make connections between Laforme’s work and their own experiences and still have a deeply personal experience with this book, a reader could also engage with the stories, get the context and creation surrounding each piece, its history, and learn about Laforme’s intention in writing the poems, offering two kinds of reading approaches or experiences that are both valid and have equally fulfilling effects. The task of writing the stories behind each poem was “supposed to be an easy book” for him to write. This task was ultimately more of an emotional journey for him, which we see in the personal stories and recollections he includes alongside each poem.

What is unique about this book is that in addition to the poems and stories, there is a concluding section titled “The Mystery Between,” which includes seven poems without their stories. Here, Laforme rejects total transparency, perhaps in an effort to maintain some “mystery between the reader and the poet,” as he says. This inclusion felt underexplained by Laforme, but perhaps that is its purpose—with a book so full of intentionality and contextual explanations, this section left me wanting more, which could be an intentional move on Laforme’s part, setting up readers for another book of poetry and their accompanying stories.

Beneath the Surface, much like Laforme, is not afraid to have hard conversations, and covers a wide breadth of important, difficult topics, like cancer, suicide, grief, child loss, mental illness, depression, alcoholism, child abuse, colonization, and the Residential School system in Canada, among many other challenging topics. However, despite these difficult and serious topics, Laforme takes a tone of hope, marking the survivance (to borrow White Earth Minnesota Chippewa’s scholar Gerald Vizenor’s term) of Indigenous peoples. One major theme the book grapples with is Reconciliation, taking up Laforme’s Indigenous perspective and experiences for a largely settler audience.

Rather than using his work for settler shame or guilt, Laforme’s goal is to inform and educate to make lasting impacts in reconciliatory efforts between settlers and Indigenous peoples. He approaches each story with humility. From having his poetry including in permanent monuments to having Kevin Hearn from the Barnaked Ladies put his poetry to music, Laforme shares both his successes and his hardships; each experience serves to inform, educate, and heal, rather than gloat or garner sympathy. Laforme’s storytelling is honest, humble, and these qualities translate into his poetic practice as well.

In the poem “I love this land,” Laforme’s speaker comments on Indigenous-settler relations, especially in the context of the treatment of First Nations Veterans. The speaker takes on the perspective of an Indigenous veteran speaking to a settler-Canadian veteran, saying that the Canadian veteran “w[as] and always shall be [his] brother/ we were all the same colour/ wrapped in the flag of this nation”.  With a common goal, both troops were united, overcoming racism as they fought side by side on the front lines. However, when the troops returned home, the speaker remarks that “when the nation’s colours were removed/ differences became apparent” and the unity they once had proved itself to be temporary. In other poems, like “Rivers of Tears” and “Stand,” Laforme is highlighting his connection to the water and land, positioning himself as a conduit to tell the earth’s stories. He speaks for the land and water, giving them voice, agency, and the ability to share their knowledge and stories.

In the poem “Anger/Rage,” Laforme’s speaker feels “the pain of [their] ancestors/ it grows and grows” until they add their own pain “atop theirs”. Laforme is connecting his present experiences to his ancestor’s, solidifying the intergenerational connection between him and his family as a connection grounded in pain. But he does not stop there—the link may be strengthened through a shared pain and trauma, but there is ultimately a shift towards hope that is deeper than the trauma each generation endured. The poem continues with a call from the speaker, who says that they “must begin to understand/ where the pain and anger originates/ so that we can being to heal”, offering a move towards healing as a necessary next step, rather than pain and trauma being the final destination of this work. It is also suggested that Laforme’s speaker must do this healing for himself and his ancestors, who are no longer in a position to tell their own stories or do the work of healing.

There is a turn towards positive impacts both Indigenous and settler folks can have in their own communities, to make reconciliation practical, tangible, and “to do something in your own backyard [or] your own community” so that “you and your children and grandchildren will see” this change take place. By doing something locally focused and grounded in your community, change becomes more meaningful, so that “we will never forget what happened and we will never forget the children who didn’t come home”.

The deeply personal nature of each poem and story is one of this book’s greatest strengths, recalling one of Laforme’s goals for this work outlined in the Introduction, where he says “this book is personal; it asks you to come with [Laforme] on a journey of reflection. It is also a reminder that we need each other”. While some lines do feel choppy when read on the page, it does feel like these poems want to be performed aloud rather than read silently from a book.

Overall, Chief R. Stacey Laforme’s Beneath the Surface is a valuable book for Indigenous readers who may see themselves in his experiences and be inspired by his frankness, unfiltered truth, and intentional move towards hope in all things. It is also just as applicable and necessary a read for settler-Canadian readers who may lean into reconciliatory efforts after connecting with his words. Most importantly, settlers can learn from Laforme, and through his approachable, hopeful, and humorous tone, they may feel inspired to do something with the knowledge and understanding they have gained.

Laforme tells another story near the end of the book about the poem “Sacred Trust,” which he often read to newcomers when he was invited to speak at citizenship ceremonies as Chief. In reading this poem, he “gave this poem to all who came to this country because it is now their responsibility as well”. He reminds not only the newcomers, but also us as readers, that Indigenous peoples “are the keepers of this land” which “shelters and sustains us,” and settlers must share in this burden. He also reminds readers that Indigenous peoples “were here/ when [settlers] first stepped foot upon this land/ and here [they] will remain/ long after the last step has disturbed her soil”.
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Beneath the Surface is a great addition to the rapidly expanding canon of Indigenous poetry being produced in Canada right now, and should definitely be read by all Canadians. 

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​Raphaela Pavlakos is a PhD candidate in McMaster University’s English and Cultural Studies Department. Her dissertation work looks at Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe creative texts in Southern Ontario. She is developing an ethical methodology for settler-scholars to do this work, called Critical Dispositioning.