The fire encircled by red Adirondacks
A ham and cheese omelette full of protein packs
Glacier remnants the shoreline stacks
Crimson turns; the once green Sumac's
In the Ojibwe lands no fall beauty lacks
Anishinaabeg; the "True People" of lake Mille Lacs
STONE
I spent my youth presenting as stone,
sure that protection from the violent vicissitudes
of the human condition lay in a geologic journey,
the only real threat the unlikely complications of
continental drift
Hence, I hadn’t allowed for magmatic rifting and
related events that easily turn stone into liquid
and fire, let you harden and rise, gracefully aging
in the capricious company of tectonic gymnastics
the unpredictable processes of water and ice,
of sunshine, warmth, the generation of life
She is seventy-two now with soft tummy fat, and
generous inclinations; I paint her toes when
she asks and offer when she doesn’t
Like the Adirondacks of New York, the circular
appendage to the Canadian Shield, I was a great
granite dome but the gradual journey to a softer,
worn condition, recklessly alive with intelligent life,
has been a beautiful thing – gray hair, great smiles,
sunlight and stone, the gentle topography of the
landscape of “we”!
Leave some time for wandering,
wandering is fun,
leave some time for wandering,
the wander’s never done.
It’s okay to plan ahead,
and block out some fun,
but leave some time for wandering,
leave time for the random.
I once went on a hike
in the Catskill peaks,
but then driving home I thought
a new road I’d seek.
I found myself an elk farm,
didn’t know it was there,
passed a house with such a view
I had to stop and stare.
Then I found a waterfall,
plunging sixty feet,
how I’d never heard of it
just astonished me.
I once drove the Adirondacks
going back to school,
found an ancient blast furnace,
a ruined mass, but cool.
Then a cabin that was used
by Teddy Roosevelt,
found history wandering,
just going where I felt.
Nearby was a bison ranch,
a fitting spot I guess,
with meat at better prices
then all of the rest.
Leave some time for wandering,
wandering is fun,
leave some time for wandering,
the wander’s never done.
It’s okay to plan ahead,
and block out some fun,
but leave some time for wandering,
leave time for the random.