Jul 20, 2018
Inyukuksaivik Tatqiq: July
Moon when birds raise their young
Plump breasted snow geese swaddle papier
mâché eggs. Her/my mother’s feather blanket
nestles an albino seal. Years ago, it could
have been her/me nestled safely in a snow cloth.
She/I wait/s for the next ten thousand years of
fossil replica, she/I wait/s until my adoption
has worn off her/my mind where pixels turn into
satellites and nightmares.
- Dg Nanouk Okpik, “Inyukuksaivik Tatqiq: July” from Corpse Whale (2012)
(credit: Matt Hooley’s essay “Reading Vulnerably: Indigeneity and the Scale of Harm” for directing me to this timely work)