Calving of Marjorie

After our captain had announced preparations to leave the bay, we lingered on deck a while as the ship began to move. Nearly spinning on its center, the other side of the ship was a better place to watch from, so we headed to our own balconies. On the way, we stepped out onto a public balcony that ran across the aft width of the ship. No sooner did we get there than we heard the exciting sound.

It sounded as if Marjorie were clearing her throat to catch the attention of her audience. And then a fairly significant chunk of the glacier tore lose and fell into the bay. Calving is as exciting to watch as pretty much any sort of creation. One thing had existed, that thing changed, and the result was an independent being of its own. Small, fated to a meltdown in the coming days or weeks, but the center of attention for its time in the sun. We saw three such calvings in a short period of time, and then Coral Princess was moving away. We dressed for dinner and looked forward to our stop in Skagway.

Two Poems:

BIRTH OF A BERG

Marjorie Glacier, marquee star of the Glacier Bay ice show,

Bright reflecty white but highly tinted with blue

Rubbed over with as cinders in places

Dripping at times, quiet at others;

Like all stars she commands the stage

Demanding total concentration for the act

And now she clears her throat like a grade-school teacher,

Her thunderous "ahem" turning every eye to the stage

And Marjorie calves once again, filing the sea with icebergs.

STILL AS A GLACIER

Glaciers might fit in many analogies

Cold as a glacier for example might work

Still as a glacier, however, makes no sense

To anyone who watched on runoff or calve