Poetry: From the March/April 2009 issue | See all poetry
Eskimo whizzamajig
-- label circa 1940 for an ivory spear tip in the MacMillan Collection, Provincetown
Optimism, in a strange,
American way, this zippy
caption for what was foreign
beyond language.
Thingamabob. Doohickey
distant as the need
for a haasux
(spear-thrower in Aleut)
or unaaq (Inupiaq pole
to check ice thickness).
This tool (perhaps a sakku)
clever and useless to the secretary
(was it Miriam?) who typed
the label that has yellowed.
Widget. Whatzit….
but some words drift.
Take vaxa gididzagh, Athabaskan for
that with which things are spread
and so now butter knife.
Or lastax—fermented fur seal flipper—
now the three-petaled gizmo
that spins beneath a boat.
And consider the kayak,
translated through fiberglass
and rotomold,
neoprene and rubber.
Bright alchemy
that’s made it whizzamajig
to its own source.
