I

after full moon     dire times

         scattered sleep       fathoms of melt

  and the resistance of water

                        I slept

you can only know the thickness of ice

        by diving under it

                how many times have I lost my life?

                have you?

                have we?

risk

such deep

        and loving

                  risk

one must be quick

so fast

                  and we begin to wonder if

                  and if

                 we are taking off

                          on thin ice

maps

                from white to blue

a massive calving

        the glacier

one million tons      twice the size of luxembourg

a profound   fracture

       a concave face

       a picasso

                 when I was eight

                 I used to dream

                of skating away

                not on my ankles

                     but on blades

     so low to the ground

no harm   we learn to fall

always a hand

        somewhere

                  reaching

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II

when i was eight

they told me the war

was far away

                             the horizon line

stretching across the earth

vanished into the sky

i knelt on my elbows on the sill

leaning in until my nose touched the screen

and the sea

        surfaced silver

                 the submarines

                          they said

                                  were offshore

i thought they were headed toward me

the lighthouse keeper

trolling for signs with his telescope

said “distance is far away”

       he played the piano

and the water

the sea

resumed

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