Nunatak is the Inuit word for 'lonely mountain,' an isolated mountain peak that protrudes through the ice. The poem is from a sequence that explores Arctic landscapes and the impact of human intrusion. By describing the nunatak through a series of definitions, I hoped to draw in the reader to consider its relationship with the stark and brutal environment, and to convey a feeling of power and menace. Some motifs are carried through from other poems in the sequence: the egg, the fossilised bones, tracks.
Jane Lovell on "nunatak:" |
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