My Father's Poems: September 11, 2022

Daily Diary, Day 740: My Father's Poems

My stepmother gave me some background on these Inuit poems. When they lived in Traverse City, Michigan, they were docents for the Inuit displays in the library of the Northwestern Michigan College. From the research he did, including books by people who had lived with the Inuit, as well as Native poetry, he started writing a series of poems about the Inuit.

HONORABLE COUSINS

In the smiling newness
of the January moon,
may a bounteous trail
of fox and hare
lead
the Clan of our Grandfather
to my camp at Loon Lake.

Come, trade
with your hair combs
and fishing hooks,

Come, practice
the charm of your eyebrows
and black eyes.

Come,
boast of your cunning
and the strength of your lances.

Come,
sing of your magic,
cry with your sorrow,
feast
on the fat caribou of your cousins.

—Joseph Locke