On these hitherto unknown islands in the sea, discovered with the help of God
On these islands hitherto known and named:
Atan, Unmax, Navran-Alaxsxa, Atx̂ ax̂, Qisxa, Angatux̂ , Samiyan, Adaax, Kanaga, ...
On these islands hitherto since and still inhabited by “real persons,” by “we the people”
On these islands since looted and enslaved and saved
No trees are growing
One may walk freely
The soil is unproductive, except:
the ordinary grasses
and sweet grasses
and edible roots
and berries abundant
Among the islands is one with a burning mountain which shines brightly
And the people come
From the other islands, the first people,
the hitherto knowing people of these islands
The people come to bathe and cook in the hot springs
what they do not eat raw
In their skin boats of envious design
they come
Clever and quick
they come
Abigail Chabitnoy is a poet of mixed Unangan/Sugpiaq descent. She earned her MFA in poetry at Colorado State University and was a 2016 Peripheral Poets fellow. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Pleiades, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Red Ink, and Mud City, and she has written reviews for Colorado Review, the Volta blog, and The Courier.