Bonnie Scherer

Ice Scour

The tiniest of shells spends much of the day adrift in frigid arctic waters. Navigating the multitude of ice flows bobbing about in this harsh environment, the shell exhausts itself. When the sun comes out midday, the tiny shell washes ashore. Finally, a bit of rest while basking in the sun’s warmth.

That‘s when a village girl spots the sparkle on the beach. She reaches for the shell and slips it into the pocket of her kuspuk to carry it home. Finding a pint-sized mason jar left over from the season’s work of canning coho salmon with her mom, the young girl stores her treasure on an upturned wooden crate at her bedside.

Night comes. Lifting the shell out of the jar, she admires its patterning and curvature. That’s when the shell whispers to her stories of the sea.

tip of the iceberg
the floating masses
that lie beneath

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About the Author

A resident of Alaska, Bonnie J. Scherer originally hails from Wisconsin. Once she discovered the joy of writing Japanese-style poetry, she was hooked. She finds that the thrill of pairing her photographs, paintings, or digital images with the written word takes the artistry to a new level. Her poetry has been published in venues and on platforms throughout the world.

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