Another Poem

The Slot Canyon


Afterwards, I was shaken.

But even when water poured over sheer cliffs,

Filling the gully with branches and stones,

Grinding the walls away,

I was never afraid of drowning.



Later as the sun warmed red rock with dim light,

I rubbed my palm across the canyon wall,

So dizzy I leaned against the sand stone face.



I should have tried to swim.

Instead I climbed a crumbling ledge to

Gather grace like small stones

Embedded in the soles of my shoes.

Canoe Tripping: Costs

Canoe tripping is a relatively inexpensive way to spend your vacation if you can ignore the cost getting to your destination or getting home. That at least is what my husband, Brian, and I tell people every year when we come up with some new piece of equipment that we just have to have. One year it was custom made rain tarps in rainbow colors. Another year it was a barrel harness and dry suits. This year we got another canoe because well….you can never have too many canoes. Each time we blow our savings we justify our actions as an “investment”. If the value of my 401k was tied to the amount of outdoor equipment I have in the garage, I could retire.

The truth is all you really need is a canoe and paddles and perhaps a strong back. At least that is how the voyageurs used to do it. In this day and age, however, the list has grown a little longer. PFDs, for instance, are considered a great way to prevent drowning. I personally also recommend rain gear, sleeping bags, tents and squirt guns.

Even if you would rather invest your money in stocks and bonds instead of spending it at NRS or Campmor, you can take a canoe trip with very little investment. First of all you don’t have to buy anything. That is why God made Outfitters. You can rent anything from a boat to a spatula. And then of course, if you decide you want to become an owner, most Outfitters turn over their equipment regularly, and you can get some good buys on used equipment. If the idea of used equipment makes you squeamish, just remember after a week in the woods, there is no such thing as “new”.

Outfitters are also the best deal in town for another reason. They are a great source of information about where you are going to paddle, weather, water levels, campsites, and what to bring. All you have to do is call and ask them. It’s free.

Don’t feel guilty about asking for all that free advice either, because believe me, when it come time to pay them to shuttle you to the put in or meet you at the take out, you may have to mortgage your house. Originally this coming summer we thought of paddling the Dumoine River in Quebec until we discovered that it cost $300 per person to take the sea plane 70 kilometers to the put in. Next we looked at the Noir River – and discovered that we could save about $20 per person. When I discovered that the shuttle for the Upper Missinaibi was ONLY $690 for the first vehicle and half that for the second, I felt like a true bargain shopper. I can’t really complain that this is highway robbery either because the alternative is to walk home.

When I talked to outfitters about shuttling our cars for our Missinaibi trip, I got a little confused because the Missinaibi runs north. That means that the Upper Missinaibi is down south and the Lower Missinaibi is up north. We are running the Upper Missinaibi north to take out down river at the beginning of the Lower Missinaibi.

As you plan your first canoe trip remember that a good sense of direction is priceless, but for everything else, there’s MasterCard.

Canoe Tripping: Quick Tip on How to Identify DANGER

You are probably wondering about how we deal with the constant dangers of the wild. Thieving chipmunks, kamikaze mosquitoes, blood sucking leeches, disease ridden ticks, rabid wolves, hungry bears, axe murders, big foot and swamp creatures just to name a few. Well, first of all, you have to clearly identify the danger.

Here's a helpful tip for bear encounters. To determine whether it is a black bear or a grizzly, take a large heavy stick, sneak up behind the bear and whack it as hard as you can on its backside. Run to the nearest tree and climb as though your life depends on it. If the bear climbs the tree to get you, it is a black bear, and if the bear simply uproots the tree to get a hold of you, it’s a grizzly.

Four Poems

1. Aubergines


The heat undid us,

Leaving our purple bellies swollen and soft.

Can you smell the clouds heavy with salt?

Hurry. The wind is rising.

Bring lime juice mixed with honey.

Rake this flesh with oil

And wait

While the rain pulls back our skin and melts away.


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2. Hang Zhou


I arrived in late August when the days were heavy with heat

On a steam locomotive,

Rocking back and forth through the hemp fields and mulberry trees.



The place smelled of rotting watermelon rinds and lotus flowers

Of cooking oil and sweat soaked cotton sheets.



Behind me the peasant women arrived on pilgrimages to LinYin Temple.

Toothless and illiterate, they encircled me,

Touching my hair, holding the cooper strands in their fingers,



We were all awestruck.


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3. Last Rites


Scatter my ashes in the evening

On the shore of an Algonquin lake.

Remember the time the two of us

Watched the stars come out by the thousands until

The Milky Way was sleepy

In a night so dark

We could only smell the outlines of the trees.

Scatter my ashes into the cold water and watch them float

Among the last reflections of the clouds.

Smell the hemlock and white pine.

Say my name one last time and

Rest

Under the garden of the stars.

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4. Afternoon in Idaho



Clouds are unruly here.

Completely disobedient.

Rolling onto each other, stomping across the sky

With a boldness just short of defiance.

But the day seems sure of itself,

Convinced that no matter what,

The sky will open up again

Bluer than before.


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