It all
Free VerseIn August 2026, PRAx, Spring Creek Project and Terrain.org called for poems inspired by a specific set of recent research papers connected to polar research. Topics included whale migrations, the disolution of the ice shield, pliocene paleontology of Antarctica, and more.
I was ultimately inspired by the research paper The contribution of ice algae to the winter energy budget of juvenile Antarctic krill in years with contrasting sea ice conditions by Kim S. Bernard et al. This might be the oddest thing to inspire something like poetry to many, but it does make sense.
The paper reminded me of how large a contribution algae and cyanobacteria make to not only life, but the face of the Earth itself. Early life on Earth was shaped by their contribution, but even rocks and dirt and everything that makes Earth anything but a barren rock floating in space harkens back to these single celled organisms and their development of chlorophyll.
And so, I went ahead and widened the scope of this to the history of life itself, ending with a note on its eventual future, which might as well be eternal, seeing how resilient it is in conquering even the most hostile environments it can reach.
The poem did end up not being accepted, but the same day as the rejection, my Fall 2026 exhibit at ParkhausArt started, so I framed it, designed a background of blue waves and green plants, and displayed it there.
August 2026
Available in: 
currently displayed at ParkhausArt in Rheydt, Germany
