WALKING THE EDGE OF LIFE
I walk the Edge of Life
Light and shadows ancient past
Icebergs moonlit snow
White carpet, quiet steps
No neon blinking wilderness
Hard blacktop death
Road rage gangs gone wild
On the Edge I walk it off
In the dusk of deepest blue
Northern Lights do their dance
My Polar bear guides me through
Walking on Life’s edge
Snow my pillow I gaze at stars
True home awaits up there
While Mother who cares
Takes the pain and swallows the fear
Constellations my true lights
Unseen but felt the Quiet Angels
Lights from eons past
Ancient Ones they walk with me
Asphalt, horns blaring
Plastic glass wilderness
Lost One’s edge is hidden
Gone under by vanity’s trail
And what fate our Last Frontier
If this is the end
Overcrowded dusty streets
Tumbling over the edge
See from within
Hear without ears
Walk the Edge to find the Real
And so find Peace near the Edge
Nutaaq is the Inupiat pen name by which our 2010 Alaska Senior Poet Laureate wishes to be known. She is a 63-year old Inupiat teacher who lives in teacher housing in Barrow, Alaska. She has twelve sisters and brothers, four children, and twelve grandchildren. She sews, reads, writes and loves to take her grandchildren beachcombing. This is her SPL debut. Her sign is Pisces.