I AM GREENLAND, a poem

I became fascinated with the Arctic when a 100-square-mile chunk of ice broke off Greenland’s Peterman Glacier in August of 2010. My curiosity has since grown. Scroll down to read my poem.

During the two years that followed the Peterman calving, my Maplewood NJ fifth graders and I followed via GPS tracking as bergs from the glacier drifted down Iceberg Alley past the eastern coastline of Newfoundland and Labrador. What an event!

Icebergs from Greenland float southward to Newfoundland, as indicated by the white lines.

Fifteen years later I am researching expedition leaders and sea captains of the north Atlantic, including Captain Robert Bartlett, Newfoundland’s pre-eminent mariner and Captain William Dillon, my grandfather. Bold stories are yet to be told…

Several tales are rattling around in my head. Others are in various stages of completion. What possessed such people to boldly go where no man (or woman!) had dared to venture? What gave them the courage to risk their own lives to save stranded sailors? Why did some of these individuals dedicate their lives to sharing the majesty of the Arctic with the rest of the world?

As Jacques Cousteau once said, “Protect what you love.” How can we be expected to care for a part of our planet that we barely know? Perhaps my interest in sustainability has led me to this place.

This past January, as rhetoric heated up about Greenland, I found myself wishing that news organizations would provide their readers with a fuller perspective of the island. Beyond the masses of ice, what is the island’s geography? Why is its location so important? Who are its people? What do citizens of Greenland want for their country? What are the complexities of their relationship with Denmark? And how is the Arctic weathering climate change?

I AM GREENLAND, shown below, is my attempt to encourage a deeper curiosity for Earth’s largest island. Greenland is not as far away as one might think…

Thanks to the American Polar Society for sharing this poem in the Spring 2025 edition of their Voices from the Ice, a digital publication. APS has served since 1934 “to unite the people and institutions from around the globe and pole to pole to further knowledge, understanding, appreciation and celebration of the Arctic and Antarctic land, oceans and ice.” If you have an interest in all things Arctic, consider joining! It shares news of exploration, scientific projects, and arts and culture related to the North Pole and South Pole.

As you read the poem, you may have a few questions of your own. If you wish to learn more about ideas presented in I AM GREENLAND, please read information provided by Brittanica and/or Arctic Institute .

Please share this poem as you wish. I hope that it fosters respect for the people and resources of Greenland, and that it promotes deeper understanding.

Please note: If you are reading the poem on your cell phone, you may wish to run the screen sideways!

I AM GREENLAND

by Josette Abruzzini

I am Greenland - Earth’s largest island -

a bed of rock supporting and cradling an ancient icy carpet.

Cherish my majesty.

I am Greenland, crowned in glimmering glaciers, frozen for eons,

my monumental mile-high sheets of ice melting, calving into echoing fjords,

dripping into mighty oceans.

Take heed as I spill onto distant shores.

I am Greenland, a coastline longer than Equator’s length

edging endless fields of ice that vanish into mystical horizons;

my eerie fog, cutting sleet, and blinding blizzards causing chaos.

Beware my angry moods.

I am Greenland -  

my cold briny seas of polar bears, salmon, seals,

my frozen lands of snow hare, musk ox, reindeer,

my fragile flowers and long-suffering birch

bending, wrestling, persisting amid hostile elements.

Notice my resilience.

I am Greenland, North America,  

my Pre-Cambrian ridge, submerged,

tethered to a western continent less than a marathon away –

Ellesmere, Canada.

We are ancient kinfolk.

I am Greenland – Inuit and Dane claiming long legacies, building new ones,

living peacefully, century in, century out for our common good,

fending and defending our dignity to all the world.

Honor our flags.

I am Greenland -  

a base for brave explorers,

a peacemaker in troubled times,

a steppingstone bracing continents in a changing world.

Consider me a friend of the free.

I am Greenland.

Marvel as I unveil my splendors to geographers,

to steadfast scientists and eager sight-see-ers,

as they come and chronicle and come again,  

exploring me, sharing me, loving me.

Protect what you love.    

I am Greenland, a blushing bride in a vanishing gown,

rare Earth hiding in my core,

salty seas unspoiled.

I am possessed by all my people,

yet not by one man, woman or child.

Be kind to me.

I am Greenland -

an unknown seed lying dormant ‘neath the ice,

 waiting for a warmer day to come to life.

 Will I grow in an undreamt paradise?  Or upon a pock-marked rock?

 Or will I wither, never seen?

 Let my seed grow.

I am Greenland, with whispers of a new world order

of secret armed vessels and silent white armies,

of future frontiers across a melting sea.

With time… fame and fortune will turn hollow.

Respect me as you claim your prize.

I am Greenland.

My waters are your waters, my planet is your planet.

My future is your future.

I am every legacy and every human fingerprint.

I am Greenland. You are Greenland.

We are Greenland.