Doris Lynch

Ice Fishing on Thanksgiving Eve

Kivalina, Alaska

On frozen snow’s rippled palette, a circle of Inupiat women stoop, then sit cross-legged on the ice. Recently arrived from the Lower 48, I know nothing of winter’s immense want. As our jigging unlocks tom-cod from the frozen lagoon the women sing century-old songs. Under the ice, hungry fish dart after silver lures. With an awl, a high school girl re-opens the hole as its wide eye freezes over and over. I wonder how quickly before the sea ice will fail, whales hunger, fish stocks decline. For now, an incoming tide rushes the fish through a channel that connects the Chukchi to the lagoon. Under a wan sun, we smack each cod onto the ice, where it flash freezes before the great heating that will kill us all.

the sharp stab of capture    hook throat eye

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About the Author

Doris Lynch has won awards from the Genjuan International Haibun and the HSA Haibun contests. Her first book of haibun, Meteor Hound, is available at Amazon.com. Her work has been featured in many journals. She also writes in long poetic forms.