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It Began with Reading of Antarctic Adventures

Half an hour with coffee

marking up a book—a check

to note sense, exclamation mark at astonishment

or disbelief, pages heavy on my knees.

And then a day of my own

work-related hazards. Tempestuous

blizzard of keys, avalanche of

email. Eye strain at the screen’s glare. Chair creak

like something about to give way.

Snow fell. The street was plowed and salted.

My dreams were white and treacherous.

I walked as if the pavement’s grooves

were signs of where it could collapse.

I wanted it to.

from Approaching IceFind it in the library

Copyright © Persea Books 2010
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc.
on behalf of Persea Books.

Published in Elizabeth Bradfield Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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