Here Cape Lisburne
Or maybe not there.
Kaktovik then
on New Siberian Islands.
Here not here.
Elsewhere but not anywhere.
But somewhere like Cape Chelynskin;
or White Island; yes, set the route due north.
As my compass taps out of bearing in circles.
Here Novaya Zemlya. A gyroscope.
Here on the boreal island, Norway.
Wherever it is it’s warm.
Here choking on acidic air.
Here Greenland, Jan Mayen.
No it’s Disko.
Here Canada.
Baffin Island.
Grinnell Lake.
Minto Inlet.
Place fogged lenses on telescopic eyes.
Here brilliant colors of pollution so high.
Here in the melt sun, heaving waters of ocean and sea.
Here start ending double-rate heat to sweat & yet, not yet.
Here wake-up there not here.
From Blood Snow. Copyright © 2022 by dg nanouk okpik. Published by Wave Books. Reprinted by permission of the author and publisher.