Poem for the Day - Penguins in Frost

Penguins in Frost

Ice cased Adelie penguins 
after a blizzard at Cape Denison
photo by Frank Hurley,
National Library of Australia.

White glossed, unbearably chilled
these penguins are piqued in glare

nothing moves except shadows
the music of the ice as it drips on

fur and face. The north wind
sings, unbuttons their coats.

Their statuesque flippers defrost
as water leaks from their stance.

These pensive birds are used to the
frost, snow, the sudden flood

of blizzards. Look! flakes shimmy
and the buried one is no longer

a totem pole and moves ahead
from a stiff wall of ice.