Eating the Glacier
to taste. The water in me
is the body of the glacier.
When I breathe with my lungs,
I breathe with the glacier's
lungs. Breathing—though made
from all our kind's rough materials
(marrow and membrane, fluid
and flesh)—I am fathomless.
I gaze at the ice, thirsty for its light,
and the ice turns its back
on my looking.
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Disclaimer
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2021 by Lauren Winchester, “Eating the Glacier” from Cream City Review, 45.1 Spring/Summer 2021. Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.