LIKE A DRUNK WALKING BACKWARDS
You
the glacier
gouging out
the landscape
of my
heart
leaving a trail of pain
as you depart
retreating down
the hall.
Like having one's own
personal Ice Age.
I, bound
in a nutshell.
"How Audenesque!"
I think
opening a cupboard
my hand
searching blindly
for a tin
of ravioli.
Wystan's lines
coming back
to
haunt me.
You, ruthless
restless in your glaciations.
I cry & cast a cold eye
over what we had.
Here in this landscape
of eskers & drumlins
characteristic glacial features
leaping from the text book
looming real
as sunset stains them
remembering now
( how did our teacher put it )
in not so
geological terms
"...a glacier's like
a drunk
walking backwards
and throwing up as it goes!"
Wishing I had now
paid more attention
in class.
Esker PRONUNCIATION:(ES-kuhr)
MEANING:
noun: A long, narrow ridge of gravel and sand deposited by a stream flowing in or under a retreating glacier.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Irish eiscir (ridge of gravel).
USAGE:
"Skiing the moraine is always a seminar in geology, but this particular jumble of drumlins and eskers -- characteristic landforms left by restless glaciation -- puts it in a nutshell. My Grade 11 geography teacher likened an esker to the mess left by a drunk simultaneously walking backward and throwing up."John Barber; Ski Country, Without the Traffic Jams; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Dec 6, 2008.
Drumlin PRONUNCIATION: (DRUM-lin)
MEANING:
noun: A long, narrow, whale-shaped hill of gravel, rock, and clay debris, formed by the movement of a glacier.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Irish druim (back, ridge) + -lin, a variant of -ling (a diminutive suffix, as in duckling).
USAGE:
"The bluffs are actually the ends of drumlins, the elongated hills shaped centuries ago by retreating glaciers. Drumlins are common in Western New York, but almost all are covered with trees, shrubs, grapevines, and other vegetation."Martin Naparsteck; Lake Ontario Exposes Natural Wonders; The Buffalo News (New York); Jun 13, 2010.This week's theme: Glacial landforms
The planet is getting warmer. Glaciers are melting. Then and now pictures leave no doubt about the severity of the problem. When glaciers retreat, they carve out landforms in all kinds of shapes and sizes.
In this week's words we take the time to explore some of the formations resulting from the glacial melt. These words derive from languages that are as varied -- Irish, French, and Norwegian -- as the diversity of the forms sculpted by the glaciers.