Walking the Glacier ~ Katharine Coles

 

Even here, breaking surface

One hard step at a time, so much of what I do

 

Is plodding along, forgetting it’s easy

To keep sounding myself.  Do I

 

Forget what I’m saying?  Distracted,

My brain mutters something about

 

An old injury it hangs onto, not even

Meant for me.  I hear there’s training

 

For this too.  Meanwhile, I find myself

Surprised to be unzipping under

 

Such a wind, how hard my body becomes

To carry.  They let me

 

Come up all alone, the whole

Place to myself.  Not afraid it seems

 

To lose me.  Sink, flail and pull back

Out, sink again.  The view,

 

Will it dazzle?  I can’t see the edge

Where ice bears itself away

 

Continually, just under my feet

The raft that carries me over invisibly

 

Splitting.  If I forget myself, I could

Become spectacular.  Could throw 

 

Myself, whole hearted, into something

Or off.   Stop.   Look.   Blaze

 

And shadow.  So blue

My stars falling away.

 

Palmer Station, Antarctica