POETRY - ISSUE FIVE
Headline News
(COMPILED FROM A HISTORY OF THE ALASKAN NATIVE AS PUBLISHED
IN THE HEADLINES OF THE NOME NUGGET FROM 1901 TO 1976)
JOAN NAVIYUK KANE
* * *
ESKIMOS HAVE VARIOUS THOUGHTS
ABOUT WOLVES. FATHER TOM SAYS
ESKIMO LIFE DISTORTED BY CHEECHAKOS.
FOSTER WANTS TO KNOW WHO INTIMIDATED
NATIVES. ESKIMO ENTERTAINMENT WELL
RECEIVED. SCIENCE CONFIRMS
ESKIMO BELIEF ON POLAR BEAR LIVER.
DRUNKENNESS NAMED AS MAJOR PROBLEM OF
NATIVES. HEALTH CONDITION OF
NATIVES UNFAVORABLE. CLAIMS
ESKIMOS IN ALASKA HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED.
NATIVES MAY TAKE POLAR BEAR FOR FOOD.
ALASKA ESKIMOS SAID TO HAVE RADIOACTIVITY.
BOTH ESKIMOS AND WHITES ARE SUBJECT TO
COLD WEATHER. FAKE
ESKIMO ART. ESKIMO BEAUTY QUEEN.
U. OF ALASKA MUSEUM ADDS
ESKIMO MARIONETTE. THREE
ESKIMOS BURST OUT OF SUBMERGED
PLANE IN SELAWIK. U. OF ALASKA MUSEUM ADDS
ESKIMO MARIONETTE.
ESKIMOS TO GET ICE BOXES. AN ENTIRE
ESKIMO VILLAGE MOVES FROM KING ISLAND TO
NOME. 200 ESKIMOS DIE OF FLU.
ESKIMOS MEET AGAIN. KING ISLAND
ESKIMOS PUT ON PRE-HISTORIC WOLF DANCE
FOR M-G-M. ALASKA
ESKIMO SAYS SHE DOES NOT LIKE U.S.
ESKIMO ARTIST PAINTS LIFE THE WAY IT WAS
IN DAYS GONE BY.
ESKIMO GIRL WANTS ASSAILANT’S SCALP.
NATIVE GIRL SUICIDES ON PUBLIC STREET.
ESKIMOS VISUALIZE HELL AS FINE PLACE TO LIVE.
ABOUT WOLVES. FATHER TOM SAYS
ESKIMO LIFE DISTORTED BY CHEECHAKOS.
FOSTER WANTS TO KNOW WHO INTIMIDATED
NATIVES. ESKIMO ENTERTAINMENT WELL
RECEIVED. SCIENCE CONFIRMS
ESKIMO BELIEF ON POLAR BEAR LIVER.
DRUNKENNESS NAMED AS MAJOR PROBLEM OF
NATIVES. HEALTH CONDITION OF
NATIVES UNFAVORABLE. CLAIMS
ESKIMOS IN ALASKA HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED.
NATIVES MAY TAKE POLAR BEAR FOR FOOD.
ALASKA ESKIMOS SAID TO HAVE RADIOACTIVITY.
BOTH ESKIMOS AND WHITES ARE SUBJECT TO
COLD WEATHER. FAKE
ESKIMO ART. ESKIMO BEAUTY QUEEN.
U. OF ALASKA MUSEUM ADDS
ESKIMO MARIONETTE. THREE
ESKIMOS BURST OUT OF SUBMERGED
PLANE IN SELAWIK. U. OF ALASKA MUSEUM ADDS
ESKIMO MARIONETTE.
ESKIMOS TO GET ICE BOXES. AN ENTIRE
ESKIMO VILLAGE MOVES FROM KING ISLAND TO
NOME. 200 ESKIMOS DIE OF FLU.
ESKIMOS MEET AGAIN. KING ISLAND
ESKIMOS PUT ON PRE-HISTORIC WOLF DANCE
FOR M-G-M. ALASKA
ESKIMO SAYS SHE DOES NOT LIKE U.S.
ESKIMO ARTIST PAINTS LIFE THE WAY IT WAS
IN DAYS GONE BY.
ESKIMO GIRL WANTS ASSAILANT’S SCALP.
NATIVE GIRL SUICIDES ON PUBLIC STREET.
ESKIMOS VISUALIZE HELL AS FINE PLACE TO LIVE.
Ugiuvak
* * *
Elsewhere ice is forming
on rocks along the shore.
The daughter I will not have
will never get there, never
gather wood for whittling,
never noose rabbits. Another
of our meaningless miracles,
my absence. Along with the brother
I live without, his unknown
treachery. Roots remain
ungathered, points of navigation
resolve to nothing, arbitrary.
on rocks along the shore.
The daughter I will not have
will never get there, never
gather wood for whittling,
never noose rabbits. Another
of our meaningless miracles,
my absence. Along with the brother
I live without, his unknown
treachery. Roots remain
ungathered, points of navigation
resolve to nothing, arbitrary.
Joan is the author of The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife and Hyperboreal. She’s a faculty mentor with the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
