CHARLIE Orr recalls a memorable day in Greenland.
His piece is in Things Not Seen: An Anthology of Contemporary Scottish Mountain Poetry, Edited by Stuart B Campbell; advisory editor Angus Dunn (Aberdeen Council Education and Recreation, 1999).
KAREN'S CLIMB
It started with a tentative low traverse
On the base camp buttress
After a storm-bound day on James Joyce
And heavy flat light.
Ground level was all I aspired to
But solid grey granite warmed
By the evening sun led me on
As ledge followed crack followed ledge.
Until, high above the glacier, a patch
Of green moss tinted red with lichen
Delighted my snow bright eye.
I name the climb for my daughter.
Base Camp,
Hekks Glacier,
Greenland,
May, 1996
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