My name is Pamiuq
it means “dog with no tail”
I was born in the tundra
a vast nothingness
that leads to my feet.

Only fate can distribute calamity
and the tundra is full of it.
It rises like snow drifts in winter
and sings through blistering winds
when the midnight sun has disappeared.

It breaks the very ice you stand on
into pieces that will drift away
on the rich sea
that sustains life.
I am left to roam
in search of food
to sustain life.

I am not a wise man
nor one of intelligence.
My talent is survival
which I execute daily.
I understand hunger
and I understand death.
Here on the tundra
this is all we have.

 pt.1

desolate
the tundra kills;
cold and pure
as it should be.
fearless, I watch
as death approaches.

I lay in a snow drift
it coddles my body,
my only wound
is not knowing.
so-be-it,
I cannot care.

what steps I took
have gotten me here
fate; and faith
shall carry me
the rest of the way.

death always moves forward
from a distance
it’s a tiny white dot
on the horizon
growing in mass,
devouring the landscape.
soon it will be here.
what it leaves behind
will barely mark the ground.

Nanook walks in silence
snorting once in a while
out of despair; or out of impatience?
when Nanook arrives
nothing will matter.

I shall not interrupt death
or its intentions.
I accept
Nanook’s breath is upon me
it’s eyes searching for fear
finding nothing but a void.
Nanook snorts,
disappointed.

You’ve no life to give 
bland individual. 
You’ve no color
or substance.

Nanook snorts
turns away.
I rise
and follow death
across the ice.

pt.2

no one questions where death goes
when darkness arrives
and cold bites your bones.
the total sum of our existence
is revealed in a heartbeat.
we are all just snowflakes
falling from the abyss.

I follow Nanook across the tundra
blistering snow and howling winds
strike everything.
a memory of the midnight sun
lightens the darkness of my mind. 
as I mark Nanook’s footprints with my own
I muse in thought
does she exist beyond my sight
and if so, is she thinking of me?

can I ask a question?
where do you go when darkness arrives?
why can I only see you
in my mind?

the Midnight sun
passes through my mind
falling beyond my reach
beyond the horizon
into the darkness.

pt.3

fate’s nectar is blood;
for those seeking to survive
we forge the landscape
acting as death’s agent.
provisional life exists for all
no matter where we are.

Nanook moves effortlessly
until the cavern of lights appears;
the entrance to the heart of life
can only be accessed
at death’s request.

each of us carries the cavern of life;
it is in our blind spot
but only a few
understand its purpose.

walls cleaved from ice
buffed to a glistening sheen
a millennia of effort
to reflect one’s disposition.

pt.4

life carries life;
I am nurtured by the vastness
a place where the midnight sun
hides her face from those seeking life.
from the sea of richness, I consume
killing to sustain my existence
what falls from my mouth
others will consume.
for their own survival.

my irreverence comes naturally
for how could it not
being born of the tundra?
my only inheritance
are the hands given
and the mind to navigate them.

this landscape develops forsaken hearts
harsh conditions chisel a soul
until nothing but flesh remains.
I fear not death
for I am death.

pt.5

The walls of the cavern flash violently
like lightning streaking across the sky
my body vibrates from shockwaves
shaking me to the ground
Nanook’s jaw grips my neck
releasing my life blood
tonight I die in the cavern of lights
wondering where the midnight sun
rests her head.

As I lay on the ice
blood trickling from my body
I feel Nanook’s breath upon my neck
and look deep into the eyes of death.

Now you understand

Nanook walks away
into the vast tundra  
seeking another life;
in my loneliness
the lights start to dim
the cavern encloses.
far in the distance
a pinpoint of light appears
I begin to believe
the midnight sun
has come to take me home.

Author Michael Plante
Edited with the assistance of Marie Metaphor Specht
Image: Arctic Polar Bear, StockCake Royalty-free Webpage.
Artist unknown.

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