This place called Cordova,
Well what could it be?
It’s more than its mountains
It’s more than its trees.
It’s more than its harbor
And Gulf weather breeze,
And the creaking of lines,
All tied up from the seas.
This place called Cordova,
Well it’s seeming to me
Was left with the Eyaks
For the coming to be
The railroads and runways and
Ships from the sea,
So exposed to a future of complexity,
Yet, remaining a village in its niche by the Sea.
This place called Cordova,
Just what could it be?
Coming back to the harbor
Well it’s speaking to me.
All nestled in forests,
Old structures of town,
On the shoulders of mountains,
Peaks nearly surround
Except for the ocean
That’s breathing right there
By the snow dancing lady,
By the fish and the bear.
This place called Cordova,
Just how should it be?
Like a live tank of learning
Derived from the Sea.
Derived from extraction and machinery,
And characters evolved in its gurry & grease.
Local knowledge is collaged
In the hulls of the fleet,
And children heard laughing
In the slush of the street.
In this place called Cordova,
Words neon the night
As hands wipe the bars
Reflecting the light
Cast on the stories just in from the sea,
Cast out the windows
And into the street
Yeah, probably wet, yea what could it be?
This place called Cordova,
How should it seem
From the extra tuff trails
In the mud by the street,
From the tenders and planes
And such fish from the sea.
In the bright bibs and gloves
Of its fish processing
In the sleepless of summer,
It’s more than it seems.
Yea, this poem called Cordova
Has a maritime sound
And the smell of the sea floor
With the tidewaters down.
In this place called Cordova,
Just in from the sea
Are some people of feathers
With feathers like me,
Flocking all summer for more than it seems
Or staying all winter,
Through the changes of scenes.
Yeah, this poem called Cordova,
Well it’s seeming to me
Like a toast to Cordova
For all it might be.
So exposed to its future
Of complexity,
Yet remaining a village,
And so poetically
Remaining a village
In its niche by the sea.
Steve Schoonmaker, Alaskan fisher-poet performed at Salmon Jam, July 2017 in Cordova.
