Tag: Canada

Drought

I watched the white paint shrivel and dry
On the old shed out back

I watched it pucker and peel
In successive seasons
Of wet, then cold, then wet again, then heat
Since decades past

On a perfect powder day
And the sun breaking through
On the untracked line
You’ve been eyeing for months

The last thing on your mind
Is an avalanche
But it shouldn’t be

How many ways
A fist

In anger
Frustration
Defiance
Resolve

Green circles for beginners
Blue squares for intermediates
Black diamonds for experts
Double blacks for extreme

Wouldn’t it be nice
If the paths we could take in life
Were marked like ski runs

I found it in my neighbourhood
A decade and a half ago
A greasy spoon, a diner, a joint

A place to hang
To eat, oh-so cheaply
Ham & Eggs & Toast & Hash Browns
Just $2.95, all day

Layer upon layer

Smoke on smoke
Thickens, on the rise

Islands and mountains
Fading, in steps of blues and tourquoise

For hours, they gathered
Like hailstones falling to Earth

A trickle at first
Then a torrent
Then a tumult

Until the space filled
In a thunderous storm

They come for the snow
For the high mountain vistas
To be above the clouds
Above it all

They come to rise up
Then to speed down
To glide on silken slopes
The graceful arc of edges

All I need is
A canoe
A paddle
And a clear, calm mountain lake

With every stroke
I feel my tensions release
My thoughts slide down my arms
Into the paddle

There are places on this Earth
Which remind me
How grand it is
How beautiful
How divine