John Bolland
THIN ICE
(For Marc Cornelissen and Philip De Roo, missing presumed drowned 200 kilometres South of Bathurst Island in the Canadian Arctic, 29th April, 2015)
We circled for an age to no avail.
The place they were, their ‘there’, was not.
The sea was flecked with broken pack.
The melting ice heaved, shattered on the swell.
The place they were, their ‘there’, was not.
The origin of their last signal – lost.
The melting ice heaved, shattered on the swell.
One sled dog stranded. Gear. No other trace.
The origin of their last signal lost
on the rising curve of warming currents.
One sled dog stranded. Gear. No other trace.
Only the ocean clenching like a fist.
Before the rising curve of warming currents
the ice recedes a little more each Spring.
The ocean clenches like a fist,
pumped full of energy and chaos.
The ice recedes a little more each Spring.
The place they were, their ‘there’ is not.
The ocean’s full of energy and chaos.
Its patterns shift and circulations stall.
The place we are, our here – it may not be.
We know the risks but cannot know the hour.
The patterns shift and circulations stall
and we arrive and circle.
We know the risks but cannot know the hour.
The question’s huge and simple as the ocean’s flux.
Yet we arrive, and circle, wondering –
fuel burning in our engines like a fuse.
The question’s simple as the ocean’s flux.
Where will we be if all the ice is lost?
Fuel burning in our engines like a fuse,
we circle for an age to no avail.
Thin Ice was first published in Aiblins: -New Scottish Political Poetry, Luath Press, October 2016 and subsequently included in Fallen Stock, Red Squirrel Press 2019
About the Author
John Bolland is originally from Paisley but has lived and worked in Aberdeenshire for the last 40 years. His poetry & short fiction has been widely-published in journals, anthologies and online including Northwords Now, The London Magazine and Pushing Out the Boat. He was runner-up the RSL’s V.S.Pritchett Prize in 2007 and a prize winner in the Fish International Short Story Competition.
His first poetry collection – Fallen Stock – was published by Red Squirrel Press in 2019 and his second collection – Pibroch – will be published in 2021. He is currently seeking representation for his novel, Threads – a coming-of-age story and unlikely diasporic romance set in Angola, Korea, Scotland and the USA.
A graduate chemist, John is a member of STEM Poets and on the steering group of the Scottish Writers Centre. He has read and performed work at various festivals including StAnza, WayWORD and Granite Noir. He runs writing workshops and provides mentoring and editorial services and is listed on Scottish Book Trusts Live-Literature Authors database. John Bolland – Scottish Book Trust
John worked in the Oil & Gas Industry for 30 years to feed the bairns but resigned in 2014 to pursue writing on a full-time basis. Much of his work in the last 20 years has been engaged with inter-generational responsibility & climate change and locates itself in lives and situations grounded in the global oil & gas sector. The bairns now have bairns of their own so he has skin in this game.
More information and examples of John’s work can be found on www.aviewfromthelonggrass.com.