Kathrin H. Rudland
ILULIAQ
Iluliaq,
calved from the womb
of a glacial mother,
behemoth of ice
sunk within a dark sea,
misshapen body, blue-veined head.
Pockets of air trapped
from sleet, snowstorms, gales,
buried layer upon layer
hiss, crack,
explode around us,
breath of a world
15,000 years ago.
Moved in silence
by unseen tides
of the Davis Strait,
prodded and herded like an animal
to be carved away
by wind, sun,
warm Atlantic water.
Author’s Comment: It was the release of trapped air that caused me to think of the iceberg as an animal on its way to a watery Chicago stockyard. It seemed alive and I wanted to breathe in its 15,000 year old air!
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