Arctic Journal grew out of twelve months of fieldwork, living in a
remote corner of the Arctic in the most northern permanently inhabited
settlement in the world. It is a response to an alluring polar
environment and different way of life whose appeal leaves an indelible
mark on the mind, changing forever one's perspective on the world.
Written in large part during the dark period when there is no sun at all
for over three months of the year, the poem is the product of
extraordinary circumstances which allowed certain privileged insights
into what is happening hamani 'down there' in the urbanised world of
megacities and environmental destruction. Battling bitter cold,
solitude, a wall of mistrust and the winter darkness, Arctic Journal is
a chronological poem of introspection and marks the arrival of an
important poet.