Peaceful Artic Circle Poetry from Year of The Poet (Vol 66)
Featured in The Year of the Poet July, 2019 Volume 61.
Flawless Peace
In Arctic Yup’ik shared in the US and Russia
“Sanqegg” is translated
To be at peace
like a sleeping child
To be satisfied
like a well fed polar bear
To be straight
like a long tree branch
Young and flawless
like no one I know
To be aware and alert
like we all should be
Looking for peace
and an end to violence
Red Salmon Run
“Nomoȟon” peace in Nanai
a northern land where children are pulled on sleds
not wagons or strollers
spring comes late yet life thrives
in the Russian Far East
the Amur River can be three feet thick
still ice fishermen find success on the coldest days
everyone comes to the river in September
when the red salmon run
beside vast birch forests
filled with “nomoȟon”
Arctic Earth
Above the Arctic Circle
where the Gwich’in live
there is a saying
a wish
a desire
“nan kak tsinehdan gooli’”
let there be peace on earth
a wish for “tsinehdan” peace
rising into the air
when the wind is calm
protecting and giving warmth
like a colorful wool blanket
where “tsinehdanh zhit gwindành’”
means peaceable
but literally — quiet she lives
like mother earth
Originally published in The Year of The Poet (Vol 66) at http://www.innerchildpress.com/the-year-of-the-poet.php on June 1, 2019.
