Canoeing Poems

Canoeing Memory

Canoeing Memory

Blood floods my brain with days of youth
As I relax on the sofa and let my mind wander
To happier times when paddling the lake
In our cedar canoe, my friend and I
Skinny-dipping under the warm night sky:
Splashing, laughing, unaware of time slipping by.

We’d scan the heavens and point out constellations,
Following each other’s finger as we

Canoeing

It was cold on the river 
So he lit a fire to beat it
A mistake he realised
As he sunk 
For you can't have 
Your kayak and heat it.

Canoeing On the Current River

Our riverbank launch at dawn
where dense forest chills the breeze,
where cottonwood leaves flutter like wings,
and weeping willow penumbras tease.

Glistening, rippling turquoise water churns.
Crystal swirling pools symphonic and aglow,
elliptic aluminum crafts coast over craggy stones, 
riverbed scattered rocks gleam clearly below.

Current River splits between sandbar silt.
Our paddles sink through rivulet tug.
Meandering, twisting, converging again,
water sculpting limestone,

Canoeing

canoeing
the river
of life's currents

Canoeing

Two people in a canoe
It is both their first time
One of them is nervous
The other is being calm

One seated in the back
The other in the front
Each one has a paddle
So the journey begins

The paddle goes in the water
Then the paddle comes out
One of them h]gets wet
From the wet paddle

Going into the water
Then coming out wet
One

Canoeing On An Ocean River

Thou I can be very powerful and sometimes calm, I still find a way to ... life is like an ocean. 
Feel the waves wash over your back.
In the melting sun like heaven touching my arms.
Looking at the clouds reflecting all the pinks and blues like cotton candy. 
Over the blooming hill, echoing white noise

Canoeing Through Time

gliding through its ripples breaking the stillness
in harmony paddling with my ancestors 
serene other than a loon's call as witness
gaging the span of mountains by trimesters
a sunrise about to make its grand entrance
closing my eyes as to trade furs feels intense
ageless today there is no one keeping time
river sun mountains clouds paddling paradigm



AP: Honorable Mention

Canoeing On Mars

Imagine that we are out boating on 
A lovely Sunday afternoon that floats
Our imaginations like wind swept clouds,
Rippling from horizon to horizon.
You are pillowed in the bow of our canoe,
A thin foam pad lifts you off wood ribbed bottom.
No smooth fiberglass for us, a bright
Umbrella protects you from the sun,
And a wine-rich picnic basket awaits

Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 12

Chapter 12: Harvesting Wild Rice

Sorry! I am having trouble writing this chapter due to the fact that my knowledge of this quite interesting, I think, annual local event is based on 1968 memories and may not be factually accurate today. So this Chapter will not be released until I confirm that its information is accurate.

Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 13

Chapter 13: Leaving the River

Our leaving the river I think surprised us both,
But the seeds were sown early in our preparations,
And shared philosophy of following our bliss,
Simply stated, the trip stopped being fun,
Prairie du Chien, Iowa, was just where it happened,
Three days of an unending slow drizzling rain
That wet our spirits and soaked us through.

To

Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 11

Chapter 11: The Problem with Lakes

Canoes and larger lakes don’t mix well I’m afraid,
The rough equivalent of a margarita and a toothpick.
On the Mississippi a lake means a dam somewhere,
The scenic route buried now under dam water
Its prurient writhing now veiled from prying eyes
By puritanical hedonists more interested in flood control
And water reserves, than glacial

Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 10

Chapter 10: Modern Dams & Locks

A highpoint of our whole trip, a lock and dam,
Originally St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis - St. Paul.
Can you imagine how Spanish explorers felt
Entering California’s Golden Gate for the first time?
It lay undiscovered for over two hundred years
Of coastal exploration by the Spanish,
Seen first by hunters on a land expedition

Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 9

Chapter 9: Portaging Older Dams

Eleven Minnesota dams we had to portage
All without clear use for folks today
But as the Mississippi is a ‘navigable’ river.
Owners are required by law to transport boats
Around these artificial barriers to ‘commerce’
And ‘social intercourse’ (like our canoe.)
This can make the dam owners hard to find!

Most of these dams backed up water

Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 8

Every journey worth its salt has rocky places
Bank to bank filled with frothing white water, 
The economics of avoidance, steering a lean course, 
Avoiding higher peaks that thrill - vouchsafed to others.
Rest days taken during times of lower water
Even portaging some sections altogether, 
Below one dam a three mile jumble of boulders.

Only one stretch really

Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 7

Oh let me sing of the river's people
No, not holiday boaters, but those rare few
Whose homes and hearts embrace the river, 
Trafficking in all that she so blithely carries.
Backyards a port of entry for wayward canoeists
Seeking naught but groceries and Dr. Peppers, 
Well, maybe an occasional Dairy Queen as well.

Dinners, showers, homes left open, conversations,

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