Pancake Ice

Antarctic ocean

swelling

rolling surface

long, slow undulations

Crisp air

cooling

tiny ice crystals

are born in the sea

They join hands

tumbling

little rafts now

rolling in the waves

A sea of pancakes

floating

in swells of syrup

at the ocean’s mercy

colliding

stacking

rafting

bonding

growing

Sheet of ice

thickening

16 million square km

redrawn Antarctic coastline

waiting

waiting

waiting

for the release of spring