White Noise (Cold Mountain Review; Spring, 2017)

Authors: Rob Jackson

White Noise

The soundof glaciers melting

isn’t towering cliffs of ice

thundering into the azure sea

or the crescendo of meltwater

swelling from purl to torrent.

It’s the pop of gunshots,

bubbles snapping free

from frozen translucent cages.

This seething is the loudest cacophony

ever measured in the ocean,

stronger than the wind’s rush

or the roar of breaking waves.

Orcas cruise the fjords in twilight,

black and white shadows

tracking sound from pod to prey.

Engulfed in white noise,

they forsake the melting bays,

silenced by the din

of thinning ice.