Visiting Alaska, 2015
In Case Alaska Dies Before I Do
(for Ulli Steltzer*)
I wake in a hunter’s dream
swimming against it
until resistance
surrenders
to some undersea kinship
in the deeps of sleep
where human faces
grow a seal’s whiskers.
Higher in the Chugash
wolves howl a slice
off the moon
before carnivorous silence
devours the world
its wintery ghost
of translated entrails
Earth’s final warming
revelations
of mammoth tusks
fossil snowmobiles
oil slicks from melting permafrost.
Fresh ice skitches the lake
each rush fleet
as a hummingbird dart
whispers man brush your teeth.
Pawing another face
in the toothpaste mirror
I see a piano vulture
hunched over dead keys
mutter to a cannibal fire
peel redeye spuds
hard as halibut sinkers.
a life’s mad flickering
dance in the arms of alder logs.
Why Poetry? Poetic language carries unmediated energy directly into the soul awakening us, sometimes with startling wildness. There are truths seeking expression only found in the arts. Without a living poetry, language decays. Because humans think in language, (even describing ourselves to ourselves in words), we need an enriched speech to grow consciousness. Poetry reminds me,say, when a loved one meets my eyes, how so much gathers to every instant.
* Ulli Steltzer was a prominent Canadian photographer who lived among various Inuit communities and captured their way of life. She befriended me during a difficult time.The Chugash refers to a mountain range in western Alaska.
Photos courtesy of Philip Daughtry
