An orca near Surprise Glacier!
The captain swings us into the inlet,
nudging the blue and white ice falls.
Seals and otters huddle on the ice sheets;
they've heard in their own way.
We scan the surface for a black and white flash.
No sign of the orca. Only ice moves.
We edge closer to the face of the glacier.
The captain is eager for a show, eggs us on
to whistle and hoot, to shiver
the slow-moving ice mass into calving.
A bloodless crunch and whoosh and splash:
centuries of distorted crystals plunge into the sound.
We cheer its falling, even as we know within our bones
the inexorable creep of ice on rock toward ocean.
The orca remains hidden under the gray glacial water.
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