The Last Will and Testament: of Jon Martinez de Larrume

By Antony Christie

The Last Will and Testament of Jon Martinez de Larrume explores Labrador South and the people who were drawn to its resources and wild beauty from the 1500s to the present day. From one of the first wills written in Canada, the collection moves to a recreation of voices from the 1893 jou al of photographer Eliot Curwen combined with a description of the Straits coast today, before the main voice becomes that of Jon Martinez himself, a Basque adventurer from Orio in Spain who died at Red Bay in June 1577. The central section of 25 linked poems explores his state of mind during the voyage to Labrador and a hard overwintering, focussing on his changing attitudes towards his ambition, his desire for wealth, his religion and his wife Ana and daughter Marie who wait for his return

• Language: English
• Publisher: Breakwater Books Ltd.
• Release date: Mar 15, 2008
• ISBN: 9781550813104

Antony Christie

Antony Christie’s poetry has been widely published in magazines in Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, in two chapbooks and in several anthologies. The Last Will and Testament of Jon Martinez de Larrume is his first full-length collection. He has taught literature, writing and drama in schools and colleges in Ontario and England, has edited the Ontario English Teachers’ magazine indirections and co-founded a small press. At present he divides his time between a farmhouse in southern Northumberland in England and a schoolhouse in Grey County in southwestern Ontario.

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the last will and testament of Jon Martinez de Larrume

the last will and testament of Jon Martinez de Larrume

ANTONY CHRISTIE

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Christie, Antony, 1943-

The Last Will and Testament of Jon Martinez de Larrume / Antony Christie.

ISBN 978-1-55081-241-1

1. Martinez de Larrume, Jon, d. 1577--Poetry. 2. Labrador (N.L.)--Poetry.

3. Curwen, Eliot--Poetry. I. Title.

PS8605.H743L38 2008      C811’.6      C2008-900411-6

© 2008 Antony Christie

Cover Photo: Ice floe off Saddle Island, Red Bay, Spring © Antony Christie

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

We acknowledge the financial support of The Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing activities.

We acknowledge the support of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation for our publishing activities.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.

Printed in Canada.

Curwen, Martinez and Labrador South…

A brief note on the Basque language…

1. Last Will and Testament

The Last Will and Testament of Jon Martinez…

2. Labrador Straits with Curwen’s journal, May 2001

Vessel…

L’Anse-Amour

Burying the dead…

Red Bay

May morning…

Tile…

Boneyard…

Wrecks…

The new road…

The community of dying…

Voices from Curwen’s journal…

Tilt…

And berries…

Bedcloth…

Stove…

Shift…

Honeymoon…

Storm…

Spoiled film…

3. Terranova

Passaia…

Baptism…

Name day…

A flight of cormorants…

Landfall…

Memento…

Barrels…

Hunting the whale…

Nightwork…

Birdsong…

All hallows eve…

Offices…

New ice…

Prayer to Our Lady of Arantzazu…

St. Nicolas’ day…

Esquimeau…

Meditations on the Cristos of Burgos…

Avarice…

Wolves on the ice…

Knowledge…

Scurvy…

Mandragora…

Silver cup…

Last rites : June 1577…

Greeting the messenger…

4. Requiem

Requiem…

Acknowledgments…

CURWEN, MARTINEZ AND LABRADOR SOUTH

In the spring of 1577, Jon Martinez de Larrume lay dying in Butus in the Spanish province of Terranova, a makeshift winter settlement of iced-in galleons suspended in a frozen bay and rough sod and timber huts, incongruously tiled with red clay tiles brought as ballast from the Basque country. Perhaps, on that bleak June day, there was sun and a warm land wind, and Jon lay on deck as his gaunt fellow survivors wrote down his will as he dictated it to them in Spanish. He was to be one of five hundred and forty nine Basques to die of scurvy, malnutrition, disease, cold, or in skirmishes with local Inuit during that disastrous overwintering. Jon Martinez’ experiences in the Basque country of northern Spain and in Terranova during the summer and fall of