by Susan diRende
Beacon at the Bottom of the World
Arctowski Lighthouse pierces the frozen darkness
just seventy-five miles north of the Antarctic Peninsula.
They say its light is visible for eight nautical miles
penetrating the darkest darkness on Earth
where the black sky and the black waters
swallow the horizon for months at a time.
Its beam stitches a seam of light across glaciers
that glitter briefly under its slow-motion pirouette,
illuminating a sea where no ships dare to pass
during the long night of the Austral winter.
Although I will never see its onyx-piercing beacon,
it warms me to think that even there,
at the ice-bound bottom of the world
a light shines in the darkness.
Gloria Heffernan is the author of the and poetry collection, What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List, (New York Quarterly Books), and Exploring Poetry of Presence: A Companion Guide for Readers, Writers, and Workshop Facilitators (Back Porch Productions). She has written two chapbooks: Hail to the Symptom (Moonstone Press) and Some of Our Parts, (Finishing Line Press). Her work has appeared in over eighty journals. She teaches at Le Moyne College and the Syracuse YMCA’s Downtown Writers Center.
Author/artist Susan diRende travels the world with no fixed abode. She has won awards for her writing including the 2017 Special Citation for Excellence by the Philip K Dick Awards. Her artwork has had exhibitions in New Zealand, Belgium, Mexico, and the US. Most recently, she has had writing and artwork published in The Dewdrop, the Pine Hills Review, and The Gaze Journal.