Today's Poet - Uvavnuk (Iglulik Eskimo)
I was flipping through one of my anthologies and came across some beautiful Inuit poetry I hadn't read since college. This is actually oral poetry that has been recorded and translated. The following is from The Heath Anthology of American Literature, but after the poem, I'll give the original source and a note from the translator.
Moved
Uvavnuk1 (Iglulik Eskimo)
The great sea stirs me.
The great sea sets me adrift.
It sways me like a weed
On a river stone.
The sky's height stirs me.
The strong wind blows through my mind.
It carries me away
And moves my inward parts with joy.
1 From Eskimo Poetry from Canada and Greenland. Trans. Tom Lowenstein. (Pittsburgh: U Pittsburgh P, 1973). Uvavnuk entered the hut singing this song. Afterward she explained that she had been looking up at the night sky when a star rushed down, struck her and gave her this song. References to the sea, wind, and sky all allude to silap inue, the "Great Weather," the supernatural being who animates the environment.
I spent the weekend in Philly, celebrating my birthday with "the outlaws" (Chris's dad and his partner). Here's a little haiku from Saturday.
A birthday in Philly
flowers on the trees,
little leaguers in the park,
outlaws who love me
Moved
Uvavnuk1 (Iglulik Eskimo)
The great sea stirs me.
The great sea sets me adrift.
It sways me like a weed
On a river stone.
The sky's height stirs me.
The strong wind blows through my mind.
It carries me away
And moves my inward parts with joy.
1 From Eskimo Poetry from Canada and Greenland. Trans. Tom Lowenstein. (Pittsburgh: U Pittsburgh P, 1973). Uvavnuk entered the hut singing this song. Afterward she explained that she had been looking up at the night sky when a star rushed down, struck her and gave her this song. References to the sea, wind, and sky all allude to silap inue, the "Great Weather," the supernatural being who animates the environment.
I spent the weekend in Philly, celebrating my birthday with "the outlaws" (Chris's dad and his partner). Here's a little haiku from Saturday.
A birthday in Philly
flowers on the trees,
little leaguers in the park,
outlaws who love me