New Classic Poems – Contemporary Verse That Rhymes

New Classic Poems
People and Places
Pt 3
It didn’t take more than a bat of an eye
Till “For Sale” was transformed to “For Sold.”
That final performance Big Annie would give
Will forever be rated as gold.
Her audience screamed at the top of their lungs
You’d swear crystal icicles cracked;
She strutted her ptarmigan feathered behind
And oh, how they loved her last act.
Next day, though, she gathered her outfits and rings,
Her seal flipper slippers and fins,
Those endless mementos so dear to her heart –
Stone carvings and ivory pins,
A walrus head trophy from Repulse Bay,
A narwhal tooth – rare and refined,
And several more treasures. For a moment she wept,
It was almost too much for her mind.
A west wind was blowing the morning she left
But it blew from the west every day.
In mukluks and mittens, a parka with hood
She was ready to get under way.
All Pangnurtung came; they waved long goodbyes
To the Muktuk, their Queen of the Dawn.
Like frozen inuksuks – immobile and numb
They watched till her light was long gone.
Her komatik held almost all she possessed
Wrapped snug and securely tied down.
Up front was a brand new Skidoo which she bought
From the snowmobile dealer in town.
Big Annie’s new goal lay in Frobisher Bay *
Where the lights twinkled shiny and bright.
Her mind was made up: it was politics now,
And she smiled at the thought of a fight.
* renamed to Iqaluit, now the capital of the Territory of Nunavut.
Author’s note: “Muktuk Annie” has been around the Arctic for many years, becoming folklore. Credit must be given to Ted
Wesley and Bob Ruzicka, singer and songwriter, upon whose song this epic is based.
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