South Georgia Island
Grey sky, wild ocean, dark saw-toothed
mountains surround Grytviken’s
whaling station rusty remnants.
Boilers, pipes, bones litter
a black sand beach where
Shackleton rowed his way to help,
his ship lost to ice but not his men.
We pour one dram of whiskey
over his rocky grave – a toast to him.
Overhead, albatross and skua
sail on circumpolar winds.
King penguins surf on shore,
a curving sweep of black sand,
to enter thicket of their rookery
jostling with courting couples, needy juveniles.
Some exchange incubating eggs
sequestered under fine feathers.
Southern fur seal bulls offer toothy challenge
repelled by pointed walking sticks.
Giant petrel wings its way over harsh
landscape, scans for carrion.
Here the ocean once ran red with whale blood.
Today, bugle of king penguins,
bark of fur seals, rumbling of elephant seals –
the only sounds interrupting silence
that cloaks this graveyard.
Lynn M. Hansen is a retired Modesto Junior College professor of marine biology. A member of the Ina Coolbrith Circle, Orinda, CA, MoSt Poetry Center, Modesto and National League of American Pen Women, her work reflects her sense of place and the art of story-telling. She enjoys gardening with native plants, photography, cooking and writing. With her husband Richard Anderson she has traveled to all five continents and enjoys adventures in different cultural realms. In 2013 a collection of her poems was published by Quercus Review Press entitled Flicker, Poems by Lynn M. Hansen. She is currently writing an historical novel about her maternal grandmother, Mernie Daisy Lewis, 1882-1963.
Grey sky, wild ocean, dark saw-toothed
mountains surround Grytviken’s
whaling station rusty remnants.
Boilers, pipes, bones litter
a black sand beach where
Shackleton rowed his way to help,
his ship lost to ice but not his men.
We pour one dram of whiskey
over his rocky grave – a toast to him.
Overhead, albatross and skua
sail on circumpolar winds.
King penguins surf on shore,
a curving sweep of black sand,
to enter thicket of their rookery
jostling with courting couples, needy juveniles.
Some exchange incubating eggs
sequestered under fine feathers.
Southern fur seal bulls offer toothy challenge
repelled by pointed walking sticks.
Giant petrel wings its way over harsh
landscape, scans for carrion.
Here the ocean once ran red with whale blood.
Today, bugle of king penguins,
bark of fur seals, rumbling of elephant seals –
the only sounds interrupting silence
that cloaks this graveyard.
Lynn M. Hansen is a retired Modesto Junior College professor of marine biology. A member of the Ina Coolbrith Circle, Orinda, CA, MoSt Poetry Center, Modesto and National League of American Pen Women, her work reflects her sense of place and the art of story-telling. She enjoys gardening with native plants, photography, cooking and writing. With her husband Richard Anderson she has traveled to all five continents and enjoys adventures in different cultural realms. In 2013 a collection of her poems was published by Quercus Review Press entitled Flicker, Poems by Lynn M. Hansen. She is currently writing an historical novel about her maternal grandmother, Mernie Daisy Lewis, 1882-1963.