Canadiana

I sat with an American

On the other side of the world

So, he says grinning

You’re Canadian

Do you live in an igloo?

Of course not

Igloos are temporary shelters

No one ever lived in one

They built them to stay alive

When the arctic storms blotted out the sky

And the wind came to freeze their flesh

But we built and played in them

Often as kids

Well, can you see an aurora from your house?

The house where I was born

Yes

But my family moved

Away from the alcohol and joblessness

And quiet desperation of the north

To a place where the ghost of an aurora

Shines dimly

Once every few years

Over city streets where no one looks up

Are you an Eskimo?

Not 100 percent

I have Métis status

Which means I am proud of my Inuit blood

But don’t have enough in my veins

To get money or special treatment

From the government

But just enough to be called ‘skimo’ and ‘skapi’

In high school

Do you club seals?

Never had to

Nor have I wrung a chicken’s neck

Nor shot a pig, cow or goat

But I happily would eat

A good feed of seal

As I would any of those others

And if stranded on an isle

I'd as happily kill a seal for meat

As a pig, dolphin, or even you

Do you play hockey?

Nope

Never did, never will

Can barely skate

Can’t ski, love snowboarding

But never go

My generation was raised

To hate and fear winter

Not love and play in it

As these new Canadians

I think they’re right

But just can’t force myself out

Into the snow and cold

He says, none of the other Canadians

Knew or did as much Canadian stuff

As you

I laugh

He doesn’t know that

In Canada I am the exception

Rather than the rule

And feel as estranged in the land of my birth

As here on the other side of the world