The Last Iceberg: The Ultimate Travel Photography


As an intrepid traveler, I have been a big fan of Camille Seaman's work. Camille Seaman is a 2013 TED Senior Fellow and Stanford Knight Fellow famous for photographing icebergs and clouds. About a month ago, I revisited Camille’s project, "The Last Iceberg: Melting Away" hoping to draw inspiration for my trip to Patagonia in November. Unbeknown to me that one piece of art would trigger such an emotional connection with me and give solace in my grief two weeks later. While keeping vigil at my mother’s bedside, I could not get the image out of my mind. As if the image were telling me that all things move toward their end and that we are just another facet of the natural whole, we are all part of the earth, and the earth is part of us. It was okay to let go.  I wrote this poem about the last iceberg prior to my mother passing and would like to dedicate it to her.


 THE LAST ICEBERG

The iceberg defies gravity,
movement in its form.
Concrete enclosed in glass
Sweeping lines chiseled by a sculptor
Cracks hold the structure of packed ice.
Grey sky and lifeless sea
highlight its monochromatic color,
The illusion of a delicate beauty
a Meissen porcelain.
The line between the iceberg and the still dark water
gives contrast to the still form,
Life imitating art.

When I look beyond the form,
It is lifeless, haunting, floating
in suspended animation
Waiting to crash, but not anytime soon.
The more I look at the picture devoid of life
I long to hear water dripping
from the ice-packed structure
as it begins to shift and lose its grips.
I long to see pigeons emerging from the cracks,
polar bears emerging from season enforced imprisonment.
So far away from rose-gardens and
places where flowers will soon spring to life.


Click here to see photo: The Last Iceberg: Melting Away

Photo by Camille Seaman

Comments

  1. Alice...you are an artist, a poet and a philosopher. Love the poem!

    ReplyDelete

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