Inuk-Shuk

 

                                             Taking a look

                                           at an Inuk-Shuk,

                                              we enter an

                                             Inuit art shop

                                       Along old VancouverÕs

                                             waterfront and

   are drawn almost immediately to a compelling greenish stone figure

       replicating an Inuk-Shuk, a sort of arctic scarecrow image of a

                                                           man built of long legs balancing

                                  a pelvis and on top of that a chest

                                  holding shoulders which support a

                       great stone head, all of this placed above a cache of seal meat to scare 

                    away hungry bears and wolves who then circle aimlessly on snow and ice.          

                          This little                                  Inuk-Shuk

                            in the                                          shop has

                           such verve                                        as to instill

                          in me memories                               of flying

                          across the                                          Canadian

                         arctic coast                                         and wondering

                         what in                                               the world

                          could be                                            down there.

                       

                        

                                      

                                                                           Richard F. Fleck

                                                   rffleck@comcast.net