Northern Voices by Penny Petrone

Author:Penny Petrone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 1988-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

The Song of the Aircraft

Aijaa ijajijaijajija

’Tis useless to ask what it is, ijaja.

Useless to ask what it is.

When it is heard, there is no doubt.

Ijaja ijajaijaijajaija jaijaajiaija

ijajaijajaija

This passes in front of my eyes

The flying machine and the winter.

Ijaja... ...

At the time to cast off

It begins to crackle loudly ijajija

And to go off as a gun ijaja

It begins to jerk

And beat its wings

And to wing its tail

Ijaja... ...

I cannot follow it

However it goes to a land where there are men ijajija.

I do not stop to think of it

While it goes away.

Ijaja... ...

I begin to skip with joy ijaja

I begin to skip with joy

As on top of the hill

Ijaja... ...

Has just appeared

Game, something to eat ijajaja

I begin to skip with joy and anxiety

As night falls.

Ijaja... ...

Certainly, I will not fear a thing

When it is a matter of meat and food ijajija

However I am so often worried that I became anguished.

Ijaja... ...

I have given them a whipping

To my poor dogs

And now at Fall

They howled with pain and fear

ijaja ijaja ijajaijaja ijajaijajai

ijaja ijaaji

Bernard Irqugaqtuq, ‘The Song of the Aircraft,’ trans, by Franz Van Der Velde Eskimo, N.S. 6 (Fall/Winter 1974) 12

O Jimmy Patsauq Naumealuk (1951–84) was born in arctic Quebec and raised in Resolute Bay, Northwest Territories.

He attended Churchill Vocational Centre and worked for the Northern Quebec Inuit Association in Inukjuak. He froze to death on a hunting trip.

In this poem, Naumealuk was concerned about the future of the Inuit people.

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