[aniuvak: Inuit for snowbank]
A great winter pleasure
for northern kids is
building a snow fort
of tunnels and rooms carved
in the bowls of a snowbank.
You will notice I said
building is the great pleasure;
they hardly ever last
beyond construction.
To make a snow fort
you need an anuviak,
energy and a shovel,
and a dream of building
a kingdom of one’s own.
I can remember warrens
of tunnels and rooms
and outlooks and
secret entrances
and arches and
spires and spy holes
and ammunition
[trans: snowballs]
and secret rooms and
hiding for hours
and coming out the next
day to find it busted
and starting over
after the next storm and
anuviak
