Inukshuk
Page 24
His thoughts were interrupted by the bell and sounds of hallway traffic outside, locker doors bobbling open and slapping shut again, kids’ voices, laughter. Any second now, they’d start pouring in—mild-faced children with savagely cropped and dyed hair, painted fingernails, and torn jeans, some greeting him or nodding in his direction, some not. S’up, Mr. Franklin? Hey, Mr. Franklin. Hi! Mr. Franklin, do you have our papers yet? Meanwhile, these last few seconds alone, getting it down in such a way he might be able to access it later, call up the lines and feeling tones, bring it all back.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOR SUPPORT WHILE WORKING on these pages, thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts, the Washington State Artist Trust; and to the office of grants and research at Eastern Washington University; thanks also to the Vermont Studio Center for a week of solstice solitude and tranquility. Special thanks to everyone at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and particularly to Michelle Latiolais.
Thanks to Erika Goldman for thoughtful, insightful criticisms that led me into the homestretch. Hugest, heartfelt thanks to my most trusted, long-time reading/writing friend Ann Joslin Williams for all of her encouragement and for patient, close reading of draft after draft of these pages.
Thanks to John Reischman and all of the Jaybirds for music and inspiration over the years. You guys are the best.
Thanks to my parents, Larry and Alice Spatz for ongoing love, support and advice, and to Tal and Angus Weisenburger who provided more than a few essential character details.
Most thanks of all to my wife Caridwen Irvine-Spatz for support, inspiration, encouragement, research assistance, patience, wisdom, faith, and for building me the rice-hull writing studio wherein just about every page here was written.
FOR A LIMITED TIME TWO SPECIAL SONGS, EXCLUSIVELY FOR READERS!
Visit www.gregoryspatz.com
Username: inuk
Password: katajjaq
“Lancaster Sound”—This original instrumental by Gregory Spatz features John Reischman and the Jaybirds: John Reischman on mandolin; Jim Nunally on guitar; Nick Hornbuckle on banjo; Trisha Gagnon on bass; Gregory Spatz on fiddle. It was written on a cold winter night in the midst of research about the Franklin crew. In August 1845, sailing from Baffin Bay into Lancaster Sound, Franklin and crew met up with a whaling ship. This was to be their last known encounter with other Europeans…
“Lady Franklin’s Lament” features the world-music folk quartet Mighty Squirrel: Caridwen Spatz on fiddle and vocals; David Keenan on National guitar; Nova Devonie on accordion; Gregory Spatz on bouzouki. The melody has its roots in a traditional Irish fiddle tune of the era (1860s), “The Croppy Boy”, and the lyrics are from a popular broadside, also from the era.
Lady Jane Franklin, John’s wife, was in the public eye almost constantly during the years in which no one knew what had happened to Franklin and his men. She made the most of her public stance as tragically stranded, romantic celebrity, to pressure the Admiralty to send rescue crews after the men, mostly to no avail. Meanwhile, she organized and funded numerous searches for the men, largely paid for out of her own estate. Though she was possibly the best traveled woman in all of Victorian England (having traveled everywhere from Tasmania to British Columbia to Africa), she never actually sailed to the Arctic after Franklin…
“Inuk” is the Inuit word for “man” or “person”
“Katajjaq” is a competitive, Inuit singing style involving vocal overtones (not unlike Tuvan throat singing) and mimicry of animal sounds. Typically, it involves two women standing very close, face-to-face, and singing at each other until one of them loses breath, or concentration, or starts laughing.
First published in the United States in 2012 by
Bellevue Literary Press, New York
for information, address:
Bellevue Literary Press
NYU School of Medicine
550 First Avenue
OBV A612
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2012 by Gregory Spatz
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.
James Wright, excerpt from “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island,
Minnesota,” from The Branch Will Not Break, © 1963, by James Wright. Reprinted
by permission of Wesleyan University Press. Heather McHugh, excerpt from
“What He Thought,” from Hinge & Sign, © 1994, by Heather McHugh. Reprinted
by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Bellevue Literary Press would like to thank all its generous donors—individuals and foundations—for their support.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-934-13748-2
I. Title.
PS3569.P377I58 2012
813’.54--dc23
2012008326