Friday, December 31, 2010

New Years Resolutions

I, Tommy Akulukjuk, of Nunavut, Canada

I, Tommy, have made the following resolutions, but not promises:

to support the Liberal Party
the conservative party
the New Democratic Party,
the green party
the Marijuana Party
the parti bloc quebecois
the Rhinoceros Party

because i expect they'll have free drinks
maybe even marijuana
be democratic about partying
be "bloc"king roads
wear the colour green
conserve energy
liberally pass out free drinks again
and i expect animals from all of them, especially
african born - horned animals

i, tommy, have renounced
identity
territory
country
county
community
neighbourhood
society
civilizations

and vow to be extra
barbaric
rude
rage more wars
gain more profits
combine socialism
with capitalism
murder innocent little cute animals

such as baby seals
kill my first polar bear
contribute to global warming
by burning more fossil
bathe in tar
have gasoline as my cologne

i will be the poster child for
climate change
i will be in an advertisement for
nunavut Tunngavik
where they promise to take care
of poor Inuit

i will appear on TV in the new year
as a newscaster
will make fun of politicians
make fake advertisements that advocate country food
will pretend to be peter mansbridge

will try to drink more beer
and disappoint even more so
my sister
my parents
and all those righteous
religious inuit
who try to create a perfect
docile inuit society

i will burn my poems
a whole notebook
a whole book that i really like
and use it to warm myself

i will vote and then tear my vote away
i will cry when an inuit politician
accomplishes something for once
i will carve a statue of
brian mulroney for signing the land claim
i will tear a picture of paul quassa for signing the land claim

i will sabotage
inuit employment levels
inuit employment targets
i will
become the qallnaat development coordinator

i will become the wage reduction coordinator for GN

i will kill baby seals and not eat them

i will
i will
i will
i will

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Bum On The Bus

on my way
to nowhere
travelling
by bus
on the greyhound
with 40 others
sane and insane
poor and more poor
five hours to nowhere
sitting beside
an asian girl and

behind me and her
is a guy, a young guy
beard, army style
jacket
baggy pants
a paper-back book
in his hands

i had seen him
earlier at the
station
talking to a lady

when i passed him
by at the station
i smelled a stench
of an old wet dog
moulded socks
and i almost gagged

and on the bus
he sat behind me
and the asian girl
and when he passed us by, she looks at me

i smile at her and
she does too
and we have the same though:
you did smell that too?!?

we try to ignore the stench but its hard

to take our minds off of him
we read
she in korean or japanese
i
in english and
through out the 5 hours

the smell reaches, swoops by
us
and
we smile at each other again

after an hour
we forget the smell
becomes
part of the bus ride
part of the experience

me and the asian
don't smile at each other
anymore, not even a glance at
each other

one time
we were connected
by both out disgust but as soon as
we get used to the bum on the bus
we become strangers
and our smiles don't connect
anymore

we were no longer in unison
our nose were no longer friends
we turned into
another people who can ignore
the bum on the bus

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Suburban Shopping

Markham is Canada's
fastest growing community
has grown by 70% since 1990

i went to a mall there
and thousands upon
thousands
of squawking people
much like seagulls
fighting for a piece of meat

except they did not
fight for food but for
prices and
merchandise they do
not need

so many people
so much ignorance
so much pain
so much hunger
so little time

i got what i needed
i got my jacket
and i got my shoes
and for my entertainment
i sat and watched
people acting like seagulls

all clamouring for a piece
of this superficial
economy of imaginary
value
and they probably
went back home
happy and
thought:
well, i
helped
the country's
economy
today

Sunday, December 26, 2010

the woman crying in the streets

as i walk to the place
where i sleep, walking,
to sarah's
minding my own
business
i see this girl
crying, maybe she is a woman
and she is on the phone
crying
and when she sees me
she looks away
and i look at her
instead
we don't know each other
no need
to say anything
but i have a
gut
feeling
that she needs
someone
to talk
to
but still i walk
away,
pass her by
and when i have
passed her
she starts sobbing
i can't understand
what she is saying
but she sobs
and i just pass her by
when i look back, she is still looking my way
and i still don't
do anything
and i have a thought:
my father would feel sympathy.
but me,
does not,
i feel pity
not love
not hate
not compassion
no sympathy
and that is because
i am different,
grew up in front of the
television
where i saw the
people in the movies and TV shows
ignore the same women
who cry in the
streets
but later on
when i sit to write
i feel guilt
i feel remorse
i feel ugly and think
i never wanted to be
like those people
that just pass women
who are crying
i don't want to be like those
people on TV
i want to be one of those people
that say:
"are you okay?"
to a woman who cries in the streets.

Friday, December 24, 2010

# 4 Bus

i like the streets of Ottawa
i get to see so many characters
i get to talk to strangers
and the anonymity is euphoric

but there was i
waiting for the number 4
to get downtown
where i can have some spicy asian food

and this guys says to me:
how long have you been waiting
and i say:
not very long, two minutes maybe

he asks me where i am from
(i always get asked)
and i tell him and that
there is still no ice up there, colder here than there

we talk and talk
small pointless chatter
he is a cook at the Briggs
and i am on holidays

and i light a cigarette
and this lady goes up to me
asks for one stick
i gladly oblige and pass her one

she says to her friend
this is tommy, he is my cousin (i am not totally sure, but anyone from Pang in Ottawa might be one)
and ben says, nice to meet you tommy
and she says her mother has cancer

i say the usual, so sorry
hope she feels better
hope she has good holidays
and she thanks me for it, says i am nice and i smile

we get on the number 4
and proceed to our seats
and she sits right by me, next to me
and says that she needs a break

been at the hospital for 4 weeks
a horrible alcoholic, she says, but you do
what you have to do
for family and she did what she had to do

i guess saying goodbyes
to a mother who is dying can
be tiring and depressing
because she says, she told her mother that

the dying mother said
she understand why her daughter,
my cousin, drinks a lot
and apparently she gave her permission

to continue her alcoholism
and tonight was her night
is her night and she is excited
says, been at it since three this afternoon, can you smell?

and i ask, is it vodka?
as she smiles satisfaction
and she starts talking to me
about crack-cocaine

see my teeth? i nod
(what a strange questions to ask)
and says, from smoking that crap, loosing teeth
still going to tonight
got some for free from a good friend

i think how good can he be
if he gives out free drugs
and i think again, not a lot of people
give away anything for free, especially crack

he must really be a good friend
and we are on the bus
in front of twenty white people
many of them with grey hair

and they all look our way and i know what they are
thinking and i start having thoughts
maybe i should pretend not to know people
next time, especially
people who are crack addicts and alcoholics

but as they get off, ben and her, she says aakkuluk
and gives me an eskimo kiss
and i have a feeling that even
alcoholics and crack addicts need and have to give love

i forget absolutely everything
and tell her the same, except i don't eskimo kiss her
and when they got off, an older lady says to me
its good to see love around the holidays

i smile at her
and outside, my cousin the alcoholic
waves goodbye to me
and i imagine smelling vodka
on her, and she smiles
and all i see are her ugly crooked and broken teeth
teeth that are rotting as we read.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Seventh of December

Today is someone's birthday
born on the seventh she is
whomever it is
happy birthday to her
maybe i love her and
adore her
i talk of she because
one day she'll talk of me
because uncles are
sometimes remembered as people
who used to talk to her
and who still baby talks to her
Oh, even at a young age
did she have a mouth and
talk did she
Today is her birthday
today she is three and
already i am writing about
how much she talks
she is my niece and it's her
third birthday
happy birthday little girl
happy birthday Taivitie