New Classic Poems – Contemporary Verse That Rhymes

New Classic Poems
People and Places
The Ballad of Muktuk Annie
Eric Linden
There‘s many a tale of the Great White North
And you thought you’d heard them all,
But there’s one more story that needs to be told,
And it isn’t a barroom brawl.
It’s of Muktuk Annie who owned that joint –
She’d headline the show now and then,
With those ptarmigan feathers on her behind
She danced like an Arctic hen!
‘Way back in the days when she was young
And headed for Montreal,
The government sent her to learn drivin’ truck
But Annie enjoyed a pub-crawl.
There weren’t many roads in Pangnurtung,
The prospect of getting some – small.
So drivin’ a truck Up in Pangnurtung
That didn’t make sense at all!
She really wanted to sing and dance –
Become a great opera star.
But drivin’ a truck – there wasn’t a chance…
Just look how she strums a guitar.
She packed up her things in a sealskin bag,
Her mittens and mukluk boots,
Then boarded a plane leavin’ Montreal
She headed back home to her roots.
At first she built an igloo up there
In Pangnurtung’s downtown core.
She called it “Big Annie’s Bar & Grill”,
Rejecting “The Musk Ox Matador”.
Her booze she ordered from Newfoundland,
That genuine homebrewed “Screech”,
And drummers came by from miles around,
As far as the word could reach.
On opening night the place was packed,
There wasn’t a seat to be had.
The floorshow began at 9 P. M.
Big Annie was driving them mad!
She took up the stage like an opera star,
Proceeded to take off her clothes,
Except for her ptarmigan feathered behind
And the seal flippers worn on her toes.
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