Taki

from trevor’s encyclopedia of beautiful things

Taki lived beneath the whale bone arch in Point Hope, Alaska at the edge of the Chukchi Sea.

The arch was made of two bowhead whale jaw bones planted vertically in the ground, forming a gateway from the land to the Arctic waters and from the Arctic waters back to the land.

It says quietly, humbly to the world, "The Balaenidae mysticetus gives it's whole life to the people, and you have entered a place where the people give their whole lives to the world."  

Her house was made of yellow wooden slats and a red tin roof.

It had four windows, one for each side of the house, so she could see all four cardinal directions of the Arctic land and sea.

A little chimney rose slightly above the roof's ridge.

Smoke from the evening fire swirled ever so gently into the night sky and thinned itself up and out into the star filled sky.

She sat by the fire in the front room, warming herself against the 24 hour night of the deep Arctic winter.

She looked out over the Chukchi Sea.

The water was calm, and the stars reflected off it like little lights.

Ice floes crept slowly with the tide.

Whales sang to each other.

Her heart sang for the beauty of it all.