Poem of the Week

Antarctica

By: Peter Green

The ice floe groans and cracks

in the cold Antarctic sunshine

and plunges clamorously into the sea.

On the whitened beaches

seals lounge in langour

and penguins call out in discordant tones

for their offspring to emerge bedraggled

from the sea and waddle over

to their protective chests.

During the day, scientists emerge

bleary-eyed from their stations

like squirrels awakened from a long hibernation;

take precise measurements of sea levels

and dart back into their sanctuaries

as the brief golden light of the morning

fuses with the green whiteness of the ice:

creating an ethereal luminescence.

With the dying of the light, people scarmble for shelter

as the sky turns lilac at first

and then a charcoal black.

The gulls wheel away to the distant horizon

and silence and solitude envelop the landscape.

Absolute nothingness permeates...

Footnote: Peter Green is an author from Scotland, currently he lives in Botswana. His poem Antarctica is neatly woven, descriptive poetry. Nowadays descriptive poetry has slipped in the backyard. Here we see Peter’s pen slicing the ice foe, bringing the visceral and dulcet beauty of Antarctica to the surface.