Rekdal takes the reader on a visual journey. The way she describes her experience seeing this images, inevitably forces the reader to look through her eyes. She compared the man to a ballet dancer, the way he cuts away at the meat. He is so careful you can almost feel the imaginary music. The caption to this image reads, "They are in our stories and songs and the whole way we see the world. Caribou are our life. Without caribou we wouldn’t exist." After reading this I had a greater appreciation for the poem.Rekdal pays great homage to the Gwich’in elder's way of life through her description.
Moreover,
There are other images that may have inspired other sections of the poem such as these:
Pregnant Carribou
Children and carriobou carcasses
I dont beleive these are the exact images that the rest of the poem refers to, but in a similar sense Rekdal continues to magnify the Gwich’in people's peace and reverence to their environment. I really enjoyed this experience, the experience that Rekdal instilled in me through her poem. More importantly, however, she makes sure to include the negatives our global society is imposing on nature, particularly this place on Earth that has not been bastardized. Her statement on oil rigs (stanza 10) and their effects on the people stand out in this beautiful poem,but I believe this was her primary goal. This part of the poem tranforms this beautiful depiction of the Gwich’in tribe into a call to action for all of humanity to realize how we are affecting nature.
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