Luke Whitington: ‘Arctic dementia’, ‘A groomed human’, and ‘Sappho’s secretary’Arctic dementiaThe iceberg’s loomingWhite cragSeen as a symbolOf endurance; beautyDefying gravity, a hook hungPrecariously, white against a spring skySculptured to impeccable smoothnessBy furious winter windsOver a now barely ruffled, shining seaIts imposing shadow driftingMajestically, mirroringAn anticipated catastropheA beautiful sculptural flourishThat could in any momentBe annulled, created and renewedAccumulationCollapsing suddenlyTo be engulfedBy barely displaced watersA surface so undisturbedIt could hide anythingThat might have chanced to happen. Literally, a shelf of frozen waterMetaphorically, a time-sail of iceAbruptly keel-hauled into the sea—Another referenceTo the artifice of wind, air and waterSliding in metamorphousAs an Arctic post script—Yet another one followingNot a soundNot a whisperStark eleganceBubbling slowly under. Luke WhitingtonA groomed humanThe…