Tags
Alaska, Arctic, climate change, Elohi Gadugi Journal, forests, Greenland, Iceland, nature, poems, Students On Ice
The online journal Elohi Gadugi accepted four of my poems for the Spring 2013 theme issue “Root & Branch.” Each poem has a backstory, something that sticks with me so I begin writing. Two of the poems arose from my experience traveling with Students On Ice:*
Deconstructing Forests begins with a view from the bus window crossing Iceland.
Where Is The Nobility In Accidental Death? begins with a glacial fjord in Greenland that is close enough to touch.
Before moving to Oregon I lived in Alaska for years, decades, actually. Plenty of time to observe seasonal changes and ask: Is Nature Enough?
Sometimes poems come from a good story. Sometimes a good story arises after a bad storm, or a mega-storm that came suddenly and without warning: The Storm—Aftermath is based on a story my mom told me.
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Notes
*Students On Ice, is a Canadian organization focused on education of high school students about the Arctic environment, science, culture, and climate change. In late July 2011, we departed from Toronto on a night flight to Reykjavik—over forty scientists, artists, Inuit educators, adventurers, gun-bearers, researchers, writers and poets, and seventy-five very enthusiastic students from seventeen countries. Nearly three weeks later, we had crossed Iceland (by bus) and voyaged by ship to Greenland, Labrador, and Nunavik.
Abby Kellner-Rode said:
Beautiful poems, Katie. Andre and I love to read aloud your work. Thank you.
Abby Kellner-Rode said:
It is luck to be the one that grows.
It is luck to sprout beyond the cut
of the lawn mower’s spinning blades.
A metaphor for life, yes?
Katie Eberhart said:
Hi Abby,
Yes, and through the generations. My grandma said she was determined to leave the prairie where she grew up and move somewhere by the ocean. Lucky for us she moved west to Seattle where grandpa’s family had also ended up!
Katie
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