hear me
as I break apart
Early morning
My massive frozen body
begins to soften
hard edges smooth away
waters around me are warming
my surface dissolves around the waterline
ablation takes my top layer
as I vapourise
drop by drop
into whispers of air over cold ocean
Melt ponds form in my centre
drip by drip
water seeps, murmurs and bubbles
Fissures form
among my crags, wider and deeper
until a gulch widens
pulling a crazy crevasse
chasm becomes abyss
my central ridge
fractures
I am breaking apart
my groans echo through the seas
mix with the songs of whales
as I am riven
my disruption makes waves
ice chunks break off
float away
I am splitting
sinking, rising again
and suddenly
crack crack crack
a battalion fires a million barrels
into fine clear sky
ack ack ack
the roar of planes
one after another
after another
after another
air rushing rushing rushing
whoosh whoosh whoosh
shells explode and smash
mortars rumble
water sucks gushes
as I rupture
as I break and breach...
These are the sounds of the Earth
© Jackie Biggs
Large iceberg breaks off from Grey glacier in southern Chile
Jackie Biggs has had poetry published in many magazines and anthologies, both print and online. Her first collection is The Spaces in Between (2015). She blogs at: The Spaces in Between. Twitter: @JackieNews
Large iceberg breaks off from Grey glacier in southern Chile
Jackie Biggs has had poetry published in many magazines and anthologies, both print and online. Her first collection is The Spaces in Between (2015). She blogs at: The Spaces in Between. Twitter: @JackieNews
