Mutual Admiration?

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we humans love our penguins, it’s not doubted

when oohs and aahs are polled and tabulated

gentoo, chinstrap or adelie

triumph over gull,  tern, shag (the bird, and maybe the activity)

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how chuffed we are to learn

(from steve)

our feelings aren’t unrequited

gentoos, it appear, love back the human presence

liking to nest where people have peopled

choosing this old Argentine search and rescue shack

as the site for their conquest

 

a penguin outhouse?

an ice-boat?

 

 

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Grounded

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the gentoos at Port Luckroy have nested

dated, consumated

gestated

 

4 lasses and a lad cultivate them and the tour boats

visiting the station’s museum and gift shop

where limited edition commemorative

jackets of Scott’s southern grounding

go for u s dollars 375

 

it’s a sought-after posting

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to summer this way

advertised annually by the trust

now tasked to preserve

this secret spy base

circa second world war

 

in the library old copies of

reader’s digest and ice station zebra

make me nostalgic for cosy childhood

(not to mention the bottle of bovril)

 

i remember them later

when i squeeze in an hour

crunching through brash ice

on a kayak

 

Make Mine a Mocha Cappuccino

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