This is what remains of Sgang Gwaay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gwaii Haanas National Park, Haida Gwaii. (In 2010 the Haida Nation “respectfully repatriated” the name “Queen Charlotte Islands” back to the Crown.) Trying to write there, I found myself silenced by the power of the constantly moving water and the still shoulders of the steep islands we sailed along, the deep strength of the silver poles and the swirling echoes of Haida stories. Villages were lived in and left. People names, place names, ancestor names changed. Relationships, like the islands, were circular. We were confounded by our inability to impose our linear paradigms, our roads and lot lines, patrilineage and patronage. We struck out, in every sense. The Haida prevailed. There’s more to say about circles and lines, if I can only get out of this well of silence. But should I?