under her umbrella

in the labrador village a small innu girl

climbs the rock behind the tourists

the rock is almost as tall as the houses 

and rounded at the summit  



bigger girls dance with hand drums 

all eyes are on them 

the child reaches the top 

carrying a small umbrella



she opens it swirls as she watches

the dancers over the heads of the crowd 

her feet in their rubber boots begin to move

to the rhythms of the drums 



her umbrella is her drum

her movements rubber-boot graceful 

slow determined and serene

her singing sounds lost to the sky



she dances with her umbrella

against a background of blue 

among the roofs visible over the rock

as if through a toy village

 

from below she might be

a god in the shape of a child

dancing majestically amid 

the lives and customs of 



human kind twirling 

among these peculiar houses

given to her people to live in

on the labrador

© Claudia Coutu Radmore