I got lost in Inupiat poet Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen’s book – the imagery and ability to take me to a place was so strong. This poem is one of them. I can hear it, feel it, smell it.

Compilation of all 30 Indigenous Poems

IMIQMUIT, FROM THE WATER,

By Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen

they arrive
in my dreams
on the water
they ply the waves
in the coastal fog
paddles a soft sucking sound
like their babies on the breast
like my baby on my breast
like breath

they return
my family
my ancestors
it is summer
they are coming to the mainland
where we live now
even in winter
Ugiuvak, but they have that
secret place
we wish we had
all together
even then though
they also came for summer
to this rocky
windswept beach

we are waiting
bated breath
our hearts open
for your images
for your lives
to inspire us
to compel us
into dancing
into fishing
into sharing our food together
in the cabin as the fog rolls quietly by