A place for language, poetry, domesticity, and the Ice
Back when I worked for an investment firm in downtown Boston, I loved shoes. I loved them because I could buy them and put them in a drawer in my desk, and wear them for 8 hours a day. They were 2 inches, 3 inches, and these wonderful white ones that were almost 4 inches. [...]
I’m working on putting together a few versions of chapbooks for some contests–even though I didn’t write these poems to become a chapbook (for those of you who don’t know what a chapbook is, see this), it’s possible to form some of them into a cohesive short collection. Most are 16-24 pages. I’m trying to [...]
When I was in graduate school for poetry, and my brother was going through some rough times himself, he started studying mindfulness, and passed some of it along to me when I was having a hard time getting a hold of my emotions. I was writing a book of poetry about my parents, who died [...]
I had the best of intentions to make a poetry contest deadline on December 31. But I ended up having to work a half day, pick the kids up early from daycare, and prepare for a party. I’m angry at myself for missing the deadline, but there are more, and I’m very much into wanting [...]
My friend Papatya is a brilliant writer and avid reader. And occasionally, she throws out a writing assignment that she tells me I must do, even if she doesn’t directly tell me to do it. So she’s told me, in plenty of places, that I need to switch it up, do something different. So here [...]
I came here to do a job. I came here to conduct an information security assessment, and I worked my tail off for three straight weeks. I worked my team’s tails off for three straight weeks. But I also came here because I needed the Ice. Somehow, even when I don’t realize it, I need [...]
Stanley on Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
Dear Kira,
We made it to South Pole station! We arrived on December 1 on an LC-130 Hercules plane. This is a plane that has wheels to land, and skis, because planes have to land on skis at South Pole—it’s covered by snow, and wheels will just sink. When we got [...]
This morning, before breakfast, we walked up Observation Hill, which is a steep climb with loose gravel and compacted snow that goes up a switch-back trail. The skies were overcast over McMurdo, but the sun was shining across the way onto White Island, Black island and the Royal Society mountains. There was a little bit [...]
*poem poof!*
Dear Kira,
Yesterday was a good day here in McMurdo. I got to go on a special trip with Sue to the Erebus Glacier Tongue, which is the edge of a glacier that has spread out from the land onto the sea ice, and is essentially floating . There are natural pockets of air that get [...]
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