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Smell of Earth and Clay:
East Greenland Songs

Translated by Lawrence Millman

Untitled

O rich summer warmth
like the flesh of a woman
O sparkling day
neither clouds nor wind
and in the blue mountains
a herd of reindeer
grazing in the blue distance
O how it touches me
so miraculous
I lie down on the ground sobbing

*

The Salmon

Aja, look at that salmon there
it's shaped like a fat penis
with a belly full of roe
look at its fat dorsal fin
look at its fat back
look at its fat belly
look at that fat salmon there
and what a pity
I've forgotten my harpoon

*

Song of the Ptarmigan

Behold the feathery person
who struts there in the new snow
He's sniffing out a mate
he's got red eyelids
a white jerkin
big stomach
What wonderful guts!
But his moist little ass
behold there!       so sweet
the entry and exit of his soul

*

Untitled

My woman touches me between the legs
she gives me her body
Aja, she rips the leather bracelets
off my wrists

*

Drum-Song Against an Angry Husband

My enemy calls me a cannibal
he says I feed on human flesh
my friends, that's not true
my enemy calls me a thief
he says I stole his dear wife
my friends, I did not steal her
and it was not wrong to do so
for I am a better singer
and he did not have songs to keep her
only now does he sing to her
who cried in her tent all alone
My friends, she is my wife now

*

Isserfik

There lived a young girl named Isserfik
O she was a fine piece of blubber
There lived a young girl named Isserfik
and he who saw her loved her
O Isserfik, why don't you fancy me?
Because I fancy eagles more, she'd say
Give me an eagle over a man any day
Now there was an eagle from Qassiasut
and it seems he fancied her rather well
he came and carried her to the North
and in his nest together they lay
It was only magic that called her back
the angakok cast a ferocious spell
that struck dead this eagle from the North
and brought home his wife, her belly a-swell
O Isserfik, what's that in your amaut sack?
It's the beautiful girl I've hatched
half-human, half-eagle
and dearly do I love her
Ah, Isserfik used to be a fine piece of blubber

*

Song for a New Wife

My wife, my dear wife
wipe away your tears
for this island is your home now
the best island in the world
here you will have suet to eat
tasty suet
you will have tender whale meat
and seal eyes, luscious seal eyes
the best seal eyes in the whole world

*

Amulet Charm for a Pregnant Woman

Enter me, O little amulet stone
the path is smooth and easy
      Into my womb
be my fetus, O round little stone
it's very nice in there
      no blood at all
creep into my inside
       my new stone-child
that the other child
       kicking at me
that this other child
       growing in me
may soon see his father

*

The Barren Woman's Lament

Because I could not get with child
I went around in sorrow
Because I could not get with child
I paid a visit to some worms
and because I could not get with child
I took home a sweet little worm
This worm I wrapped in a skin-stocking
this worm I lay against my breast
and there it grew fat, oh so fat
my own suckling babe
and I grew lean
You're a bag of bones, said my husband
your greedy child is eating you alive
and he cut my dear one into small pieces
which he fed to the dogs
not a good thing at all to love a worm

*

Cradle Song

Cry not, my little one
cry not
else a large raven will pick out your eyes
a large raven will pick out your eyes
my dear sweet little one

*

Lullaby

my dear little plague
all you want is my milk
you'll drink me dry
forever sucking
sucking at my dugs
like when you were born
as you sucked
big strong healthy child
whose ass is so hot
it burns me

*

Petting Song

Riding high, the little flirt
in the amaut on my back
No man has yet touched her
no man has yet stamped her
no man has yet cleaved her
But its not her fault
Look how her eyes follow men
She runs after every man she sees
All she wants is a man
      my little child

*

Untitled

Greedy snowslide
keep your paws off my little house
I've got a wife and four kids
they could never gratify you
like they gratify me

Strong snowslide
if you flex your muscles
kindly smash a few rocks
bury a cliff-side or two
but don't touch this little house of mine

I know, O snowslide
that I built my house on your land
but where else could I find shelter
from your comrade the wind?
Where else but in your lap?

Generous snowslide
my wife and kids are all I have
it wouldn't amuse you to kill them
let them sleep in peace
Stay up there on your nice cold mountain

*

Hunter's Charm for the Prevention of an Avalanche

My grandfather and great-grandfather
and great-great-greandfather
all bade me come to this bird-cliff
therefore, you rocks, stay put

*

Untitled

When friend Maaitak takes a new wife
I think I'll steal his old one
the great, delightful Big Vulva Woman
she of the great delightful kisses
she of the the mighty and everlasting kisses
Aja, even the lips of my ass
form the shape of a kiss now

*

Against the Effects of Shooting Stars

Shooting star in the sky
ill rains fall on earth
Quick! a chunk of mica
and hide here under this moss
else the star-shit'll get us

*

Sledge Song

Onward sledge, glider, beast of burden
onward, onward
your fat thighs must grow slim

*

Signal Song

From the kayak to the shore:

Of my prey
I sing
we met in the northland
we drove each other yet farther north
together we hunted
but I was better
I sang my lullaby to him
and he slept like the sea
A bear
a great bear I have brought home from the north
      and life is just fine

*

Spell for Catching a Bearded Seal

What smell
do I smell of?
Of the smell of a bearded seal
the smell of earth and clay

*

Walrus Hunter's Charm

Friend walrus,let me harpoon you
let me harpoon you by petting your jowls
such beautiful jowls
Now won't you be quiet?
Friend walrus, let me harpoon you
let me harpoon you by fondling your tusks
such delicate tusks
Now won't you be meek?

*

Flensing Song

I put my knife to this bearded seal
I slit it open
I pull out the liver
and offer it to my husband
Aja, we are a joyful couple again

*

Bad Hunter's Drum-Song

Why am I such a good-for-nothing?
What's the reason?
I can't beget a child
Perhaps it's because my penis is small
All my huntings are small too
I'll make a song about these huntings
It will be a small song
I'll begin with the ice-floes
one day I was paddling among them
I was paddling happily among them
when I saw an enormous Greenland seal
asleep, fast asleep on the ice
Aja, I stabbed him with my harpoon
and into the water he plunged
deep, deep into the water
I lost my bone-point in that seal
the bone-point of my harpoon
and I haven't been any good since then
either at hunting or anything else
Aja, my penis is so small

*

Kulusuk Hunter's Song

Though my home place is nothing but slush
though I am drifting hopelessly on this floe of ice
though all I see is ice everywhere
though my belly is empty
Aja, I am full of joy

*

The Raven

—Raven, raven
what's that in your beak?
—A human thigh-bone
so sweet, so sweet to eat
—Raven , raven
give me a little piece
—But such a thigh-bone
is better for ravens to eat
—Raven, raven
my children need some food
—And my children, O man
they're very hungry, too.

*

Kuk-ook's Song

A nasty little person am I
and I'm going to run away from homr
to find some girl with a big vulva
and when I'm done with her
I'll feed her flesh to the sea-gulls
and come back to this pit
and throw a party for my dumb cousins
it'll be a very jolly party
I'll whip them to shreds with my rope
and feed their flesh to the gulls too
then I'll marry two girls at once
the first of my sweethearts
I'll dress in the finest spotted sealskins
and my other pet
she'll wear lovely skins of the hooded seal

*

Young Girl's Lament

My parents, they've been rather cruel
they strapped me to our hut
and let the dogsgnaw at my knees
and left me in the snow and cold
all because I would not marry
But I chewed loose my bindings
Ah, said my father, You've done well
for a stupid girl who will not marry
Then he hung me head downwards
in a deep mountain ravine
to let the winds play at my skin
To these empty spaces I give this song:
I am far from happy hanging here
My lungs seem to fall in my eyes
My liver, it sleeps with my hair
my kidneys press against my nostrils
my guts are like an amaut string
and my heart sits heavily between my ears
and all because I will not marry

*

Lament of the Snow Bunting

Listen to me, my poor husband
the human beings are greater than us
and they are clever, too
they can make things with their hands
whale-bone snares, for example
it was in just such a snare
of bone and hair
that they grabbed your little life
Listen, O my poor husband:
after they stole your breath from you
they drowned our nest
and all our children
with their human piss
O my poor dead husband
they must be truly great
who can make such a mighty piss

*

Untitled

Aja, I'm a woman who never spawned a bastard
I'm a woman who never spawned a bastard
      Aja, I'm a fine big woman
      who is every man's toy
and I never, never spawned a bastard

*

Untitled

with what lungs
      do I breathe?
with the lungs
      of a little butterfly
      I breathe
O how strong I am now
for Asiartik
      the wolf
      the devourer
      the bringer of sickness
Asiartik hates butterflies

*

Charm Against Sickness

White gull
who soars over my dismal body
I'm talking to you, bird
Come down here
and grasp me with your wings
Let me fly in the blue air, too

*

Charm Against Pain

What lives here inside me?
What sort of fetus?
The great inland ice lives here
and it hurts me greatly
What sort of fetus hurts my insides?
The great inland ice
and may these words melt it

*

Old Woman's Song

How long will it last
      this nasty old age
how long will the eyes of my people
      scorn me
I draw my breath like a heavy stone
There is a fire in my chest
I can hardly hear my people
      nor they hear me
Once I could bone and cut
      the flesh of a great walrus
I had the quickest knife of any woman
Once I had no rival
      flensing a seal
Now they think it's a waste
even to offer me
      a nice bite of seal liver
they give me mussels instead

*

Untitled

Aja, I've grown old
lived quite long enough
much wisdom I've acquired
but four riddles are beyond me

what made the sun
what made the moon
what made the minds of women
and why do people have so much lice?

*

Narwhal Song

Old worn-out eyes
old worn-out eyes
a run of narwhals
break the waves of the sea

I will call up the souls
of the narwhals I killed
perhaps their sweet souls
will brighten
my old worn-out eyes

I will make a song about them
they'll swim in my song
great herds of narwhals
who broke the foam
close to my village

Now I can see them lolling
and now spouting in the sea
herd after herd of narwhals
they bring back my youth
they give me this song

*

For Raising the Dead

What am I bringing alive?
A dungfly I'm bringing alive
What am I bringing alive?
A butterfly I'm bringing alive
What am I bringing alive?
A wheatear I'm bringing alive
What am I bringing alive?
A fox I'm bringing alive
What am I bringing alive?
A crested seal I'm bringing alive
What am I bringing alive?
My father I'm bringing alive

*

Mourning Song

No hunting
in this land
no hunting
on this ice
no hunting
in this air
no hunting
in this sea
no hunting at all

© Lawrence Millman

Published 1985
White Pine Press
73 Putnam Street
Buffalo, NY 14213

Lawrence Millman is the author of eleven books, including Our Like Will Not Be There Again, Lost in the Arctic, Last Places, and An Evening Among Head-hunters. An Arctic explorer, he has made 12 trips to Greenland, 15 to the Canadian Arctic, and 6 to Labrador, but he's only been to Paris once (Paris, Maine, twice). He is also an obsessed mushroom forager. Indeed, he would rather have a mushroom named after him than be remembered for his writing. Anyone—but especially women of beauty, charm, and wit—who wishes can contact him at l.millman@comcast.net.