The First Peary Arctic Expedition Arrives in Greenland
The dogs do not speak English
So you curse each one in French,
Trying to crack your new virgin
Whip - a finely scraped strip of dried walrus
Hide. But there's no snap.
Nobody cringes.
If you could speak Inuktitut, you would
Hear the King Dog cackling
At your attempts. You could understand
Ikwah's and Analka's silence,
Inside of which they ponder how a man
Who commands such a vast wooden ship
Can’t convince a dog team to huk-huk
Not even an inch, yet still believes
He can survive one year on the ice
Trudging north toward – of all things – just
More ice. Between the private flakes
Of falling snow, and their secret discussions
On Beauty, a royal crown of bitches
Toss and purr, rolling onto their backs
Eyes wet and wide, smiling
At their King, waiting for his cue.
Robin Coste Lewis was born in Compton, California. She received an MFA from New York University and an MTS from the Divinity School at Harvard University. She is the author of Voyage of the Sable Venus (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015), winner of the National Book Award. Lewis has taught at Wheaton College, Hunter College, and Hampshire College. She currently serves as a Provost’s Fellow at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles.
