Siqiññaatchiaq

WHALE POEM

I met Indigenous elder Adeline Raboff many years ago when I was traveling in Alaska and connected with Dr. Jim Kari. A linguist specializing in Athabascan languages, Jim is currently retired from the Alaska Native Language Center. Back then he knew about a moose hide that a hunter had left in the forest. Jim asked me to help carry the heavy load out of the muskeg. He explained that he wanted to take itki to his native friend who would cure the hide and make good use of itki.

We did, and all of us became friends. Recently Adeline sent me a poem she wrote and then a translation of the poem from English into Inupiat by her friend Doreen Simmonds.

Whale was born 

in the warm waters 

of his mothers’ guidance

And whale 

whale himself

spread his joy

into the freezing waters

and ice flows of 

the North Sea

Siqiññaatchiaq

(Adeline Raboff, 2021)