pack-ice all around...
among the icebergs ahead,
is that a mountain?
About Masago
- Masago
- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- From "The Haiku Anthology" I became interested in Haiku and I have since written numerous haiku, senyru, and tanka. "Masago", my haiku pen-name, means "grain(s) of sand" in Japanese. I have recently started learning Esperanto and Japanese. A few years ago I developed a new eastern verse form which we now call 'Renhai'.
My Blog List
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At the Café9 months ago
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I Can Almost Smell it1 year ago
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6 Hantu yang Muncul di Toilet10 years ago
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distant thunder12 years ago
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welcome spring14 years ago
5 comments:
This "pack-ice" haiku is based on an event that occured when Shackleton's group were stuck in pack ice during the winter of 1915-1916. At one point they were headed straight toward what at first they thought was a mountain on the horizon. It turned out to be a giant iceberg apparently stuck on a shoal. Luckily at the "last minute" the ice pack they were on drifted around the frozen behemoth (the last minute was in reality several weeks).
you seem to have captured a good bit of the story with these few words. very nice :)
It's amazing the stamina those guys had. Or, maybe shear will to survive. Vaughn should "on" in the last line be "or"?
Thanks guys!
Pat, no I hadn't intended "or". But you've pointed out a weakness in my wording. I have revised it from:
pack-ice all around...
is that a mountain ahead,
on an island?
...to:
pack-ice all around...
among the icebergs ahead,
is that a mountain?
Thanks,
~Vaughn
thanks for the ku and the explanation... some story!
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