The snow fell quietly, covering the settlement in a thick white blanket. The shaman had told Okwana she’d recognize the singing hut by the large narwhal ivory which jutted up out of the roof; it whistled when the wind raced over the ice, he’d said. …
Arctic Shaman's Seance Read Post »
It was the 4th of July and we were in the Iñupiat town of Kotzebue, the largest community in Northwest Alaska. Kotzebue is on the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Sea and opposite Russia, some 50 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Before the Europeans came it was a major Arctic trading port between the Russians and the Iñupiat Eskimos who traded in fur, skins and seal-oil, and later in gold. Trade increased with the arrival of the whale boats and missionaries.
Kotzebue(ty) in Alaska Read Post »
The fog stretched out like a grey pall beneath us. Visibility was nil; we were as if wrapped in a blinding cocoon as our airplane roared, swung up then down then up again and do…
Many are familiar with paintings and sketches of men in open boats on high waves hurling harpoons at giant whales. From the Japanese to the Basques, the British in the South Seas, the Norwegians, the Yankees, the Greenlanders – the list is long, we …
Whaling, ancient and modern Read Post »
We were sitting on the steps of an orthodox church, its gold-tipped dome shimmering like a glorious crown in the sun. It stood on a bluff above the sandy clamming beaches, overlooking Cook Inlet and from our vantage point we could see in the distanc…
An Orthodox Tlingit in Alaska Read Post »
Master mountain sighs his enormity
weeps in small gullies at the weight he holds,
despairs of immensity, too big to hold himself
mountain shifts, avalanche of granite and schist
slate sliding down to a clear glacial stream.
Yet he holds his head…
Master Mountain, Denali, Alaska Read Post »
He flies in ribbons like my hair undone
loosely in this arctic breeze
like a kite in the wind his long tail trailing
above melting icefloe, along costal freeze
Jaeger Bird, Barrow, Alaska Read Post »
Like a queen’s downy bed fluffed up for the loving
featherlace wings drifting aloft
they glide with the wind
two graceful lovers sweep over Cook Inlet
calling to the snowbound range.
It echoes back beckoning
they sway over scree
brittle legged…
Cranes, Cook Inlet, Alaska Read Post »
It’s the call over still water
echoing round the bay of my mind
some yearning, undefined
A loon owns this lake
at dusk and at dawn reminding us
of things unresolved.
We row out to find him
smooth grey feathers impervious to rain.
King of …
Loon (on Lake Denise, Soldotna, Alaska) Read Post »
like a crease in the mouth of your womb
you are melting in sighs
I hear breath and the wrench of the first opening
as you yield to the world’s warmi…
Exit Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska Read Post »
Razor clams here are the size of babies’ hands
opened up to catch the midnight sun.
They roll in with the tide and lie on sand
full and fleshy, their tumbling journey done.
Above, a Russian church, its golden dome
a gleaming refuge for those who…
Clamming in Ninilchik, Alaska Read Post »
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