Two poems by alumna Jynne Dilling Martin (poetry, ’06) from her tenure as Antarctica’s Poet-in-Residence are published online at Slate:
Am Going South, Amundsen
An oil painting of a jaguar eating an emperor penguin
is the start of a daydream in the Royal Society library.
Nineteen ponies wedged in narrow wooden stalls
sail south; they will soon go blind from miles of radiant snow,
lap at volcanic ash for a last smack of salt, be shot
and fed to dogs. For now they sway this way, sway that.
The magnetic needle dips. Only afterwards we ask if it cost
too much. Will this species be here tomorrow or not? …
***
What Endures and What Does Not?
Soon this ship will be crushed in a polar storm; below deck,
pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica are read aloud,
shredded and used to light pipes. A century later
the preservationist draining antique food tins
sneaks a taste of raspberry jam. That night he’ll dream
he digs out a tomb on a glacier filled with bay leaves
still fragrant and green. The emperor penguin egg
tucked warm in the explorer’s pocket is delivered intact
to the receptionist desk at the Royal Geographic Society; …
Finish reading both poems online at Slate.
