Conflict in a nest (of down)

AF SKAFTI FI. HALLDÓRRSON

Mari Aikio-Arianaick
"Máilmmis dása" (From the world and back)

One of the most common characteristics of Nordic poetry is a strong sense of individuality. We who live in the Nordic countries are of course no less cosmopolitan and just as, if not more, socially sonscious than other peoples. But some things in our culture can probably be traced to a greater proximity to nature than commmonly found in countries of a more southerly latitude; e.g., the relatively scarce population in the Nordic countries is no doubt in part due to climatic conditions. Under such circumstances the strongest traits seem to be individualism, a great sense of independence and an urgent need for space. At least the same are dominant in the solemn book of poetry by the Sami poet Inger-Mari Aikio-Arianaick, Máilmmis dása ( From the world and back ).

The book contains a long poem, in many stanzas, in which the main theme is, on the one hand, the clashes of cultures and, on the other, the task of a women getting used to her newborn child. The poems are rather minimalistic and simple on the surface. In this said simplicity lie both the strength and the weakness of the book. Thus the book may seem "insignificant" as regards content; the point of view appears limited and indeed getting more and more limited towards the end, as the speaker of the poem becomes increasingly tied to a child in its first year. But things are not as the seem, for the "simplicity" makes the book whole and readable, affording the reader an insight into varius dimensionsof human existence.

A clash of cultures is manifest in the difficulties the poem's speaker experiences when she moves into the home of her in-laws, her husband's parents. The friction between the opposite values of the "nature-child" and consumer culture is unavoidable, creating annoyance on both sides. The house is likened to a market-square and all the woman's energy goes into keeping an even keel. It is another trait of the book how corporeal the woman's experiences are; they relate to quite basic, urgent needs. In one of the poems the woman's dream is recounted and its meaning is dissatisfaction; she is unfulfilled. In it one finds a bountiful table of food, but of which the woman cannot partake;"such I can't get here either / other than green fodder / salad / grass. When she has the chance of going back to Sapmi the tone is happier as she will be able to go "back home / to meat of reindeer / white-fish, prawn, salmon".

In the second half of the book the attention is more focused on the woman's struggle with her ever decreasing personal freedom, due to the newborn child and demands made by her workaholic husband. This feminist perspective is a bit unexpected in that the conflict depicted is mainly between the child and woman rather than between husband and wife. The earnest and straightforward way of expression is perfectly suited to the poem. Talking about the son the woman says: "...he drew me/ down to earth // tethered me to soil". But the book is also story of becoming of a child and mother who grow and mature together.

The proximity of the poem's speaker is an important characteristic of the book; this presence is a bodily one and closely related an unbroken view of nature. This is apparent in the imagery used by Inger-Mari, taken from nature and, at the same time, to women's experience. In a poem about pregnancy these features are obviously present:

I am sitting in my nest of down
brooding on a brown egg
one feather of a wing
prodding beak
the sun shines
life is laughing

Máilmmis dása is a book about the conflict that arises when a strong self-conscience confronts the constraints that life presents us with. The book is an honest and a lyrical work with a rich sense of nature and feminine presence.

Skafti Þ. Halldórsson is a literary critic