The cormorant hunter's wife

This collection of poetry is inspired by the authorÕs lineage as an Inupiaq Eskimo woman with family from King Island and MaryÕs Igloo, Alaska. The poemsÕ syncopated cadences and evocative images bring to life the exceptional physical and cultural conditions of the Arctic and sub-Arctic that have been home to her ancestors for tens of thousands of years, while the poemsÕ speakers refer to an indigenous identity that has become increasingly plural.The authorÕs perspective as a Native person affords her unique insight into the relationship with place and self, which she applies in her consideration of the arctic landscape and to questions of adaptation and resilience. KaneÕs work refers to the Inupiaq oral tradition, and while in some poems she continues to revisit, rewrite, and revise traditional narratives that are suited to the lyric form, she moves beyond narrative retelling, honoring the legacy of imagination that has sustained Inupiaq people for millennia.