This is an unpretentious poem I wrote in January 2017 at the McMurdo base, Antarctica. I was part of a research team studying the soil ecosystem of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a place where the largest life forms are microscopic invertebrates such as nematode worms. These had been the focus of sampling campaigns by the team since 1993, hence the name everyone in McMurdo knew as by: the Wormherders. Other things we are famous for (in McMurdo, anyway) include the habit to watch The Big Lebowski every single year, and our love for Frosty Boy, the soft ice cream serving machine that is arguably the cornerstone upon which social order in McMurdo stands. (Actually not really a joke – ask anyone who's been there.)
Bad weather had stranded us at the base for some days. Although we were not lacking things to do in the lab, at some point I found myself idling, and I turned to what I like doing the most – writing. I did not have enough energy to work on my novels in progress (another story altogether), so I decided to try something different. The result is a rhyming homage to Antarctica, the Wormherders, and of course Frosty Boy.
Bad weather had stranded us at the base for some days. Although we were not lacking things to do in the lab, at some point I found myself idling, and I turned to what I like doing the most – writing. I did not have enough energy to work on my novels in progress (another story altogether), so I decided to try something different. The result is a rhyming homage to Antarctica, the Wormherders, and of course Frosty Boy.
Ode to the Wormherders
The Dry Valleys we roam far and wide
But ’tis in the lab that we oft abide.
Now look at worms, now fill a carboy,
Countin’ the hours till “frosty boy”,
The famed ice-cream all McMurdo adores
(Though some love pizza even more.)
The soil from the Valleys we thoroughly analyze,
And under the microscope we then scrutinize
The nematodes that bend and coil,
The ciliates scurrying 'round the soil,
And bdelloid rotifers, their males long gone
(For thirty million years there has been none);
And tardigrades too, the famed water bear.
All these creatures in their watery lair
Under the microscope, all we enumerate.
These tough critters, small yet obdurate
Denizens of the Dry Valleys, where instead
Penguins and seals are only found dead.
Once the data are entered, the boxes filled,
And all our samples ready to be shipped,
Ere we bid the frozen continent farewell
And return to the places where we dwell,
Let us watch the Big Lebowski one more time,
And have some frosty boy, and then some wine
But ’tis in the lab that we oft abide.
Now look at worms, now fill a carboy,
Countin’ the hours till “frosty boy”,
The famed ice-cream all McMurdo adores
(Though some love pizza even more.)
The soil from the Valleys we thoroughly analyze,
And under the microscope we then scrutinize
The nematodes that bend and coil,
The ciliates scurrying 'round the soil,
And bdelloid rotifers, their males long gone
(For thirty million years there has been none);
And tardigrades too, the famed water bear.
All these creatures in their watery lair
Under the microscope, all we enumerate.
These tough critters, small yet obdurate
Denizens of the Dry Valleys, where instead
Penguins and seals are only found dead.
Once the data are entered, the boxes filled,
And all our samples ready to be shipped,
Ere we bid the frozen continent farewell
And return to the places where we dwell,
Let us watch the Big Lebowski one more time,
And have some frosty boy, and then some wine