This is not where I expected to end up.
Nuuk cannot simply be walked into
and was never on my intended itinerary.
I had not planned on this village being home but here I am finding something of value.

Everything is small here.
A quarter of the country lives in town
but still it’s smaller than my college.
Nine out of ten residents are natives
and use ten percent of the resources.
The university has 150 students
who can go to any of the four cafes in the greater area
of this capital city.
It is cold
staggeringly cold.
Still, I can see finer qualities.

The people are not friendly
as they rush indoors.
The buildings are epic
and the roads are often iced.
There is little to do
and few to do it with.
There is isolation here up north
but blessed isolation.

I have my summers
of glorious sun
and days of darkness to counter it
come winter.
I have the ice floes out my window
and no one to disturb me.
With this absence of activity
and the crush of nature
I cannot wallow in intellect.
I only wallow in this hard world.
This is what I’ve found in Nuuk.
This is what I shall treasure
through the long desolate winter.