Collaborations+Projects > the light ekphrastic

made in response to a poem by Chris Combs

Antarctic

From across the earth
jumping the lazy oceans,
her cheeks and lips still melt
the Antarctic ice that scratches
heaven’s belt.

She can whisper charms to me
that even the whales can hear.
They will carry and sing her song,
placing it on the loneliest of frozen ears.

I want her to rub her leg
against the exposed skin of mine.
We will camp under the eye of Polaris,
its gleam burning brighter than ever
because it is jealous.

Sounds of her tiptoes—
the hush of her rising breath—
the sway of a gown in the breeze
is too much for the continent’s shelf
to avoid and forget the sea.