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| Photo of Sif taken by Julia Smith Wellner |
In one -- theology says that it is about how the prophecies of religious texts apply to our current times. Symbols are attached to events and people. They become sigils of proof.
In the other -- it is about how specific times in history are "important". They signify something. They mean.
Both are saying the same thing. That specific things hold more weight than others.
Out in the Antarctic a research vessel "found" a new island as the ice sheets melt away. They named this island for the Norse goddess Sif. Sif represents the earth. She is mother of all, wife to Thor. She is symbolically the root of everything. Her hair is wheat.
One could argue that an old god arriving at this moment, in this way, is a sign. A sigil. A warning.
One could call it bullshit.
Either way, Sif is there.
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Historicist
A new island in the Antarctic — Sif — mother — holder of things like wheat
But of course — it is not new — it has been there forever — waiting
glacier’s patience — patience that is violent
That she has come now — according to the prophecy of various religions —
sleeping giants awake at the sound of the warning claxon — the glaciers — which
until now — chose to be still — now bleed with speed — with iron
Slide into the water — clear with the lack of things — become
the waiting ragnarok beneath a receding history
Violent because it is so slow you cannot see it — but of course it can be measured
in the acts of kindness — the small gifts of vapor that
become the fields of wheat tomorrow
Your belly Sif — let it become red in the sun — stare until you blind
until you un-hunger —
full with whatever world is next
