Yoik

Poetry. Among the Saami/reindeer people a yoik is sung to calm a reindeer or a baby. It is sung to build community. Cooperation. To travel to the other world. Locate lost objects. Restore health. Express feelings. A yoik is not so much a song as it is the voice. It speaks to the land, tells us we are all connected. The poems in Yoik, too, connect us to the plants, the animals, possibly a future. Jim Johnson is the current Poet Laureate of Duluth, Minnesota.