Months pass since September
like one intoxicated dream
the dream turns to winter
and returns to where I was
It feels almost like I never left
like a dream happened
in a gap between stories
and now real life continues
Everything changes
between summer's sprawling past
and winter's hard revision
I learn a lot about California by leaving it
for Wyoming’s high and cold
Why go in the middle of winter again
to put myself in the snowy mountains?
because maybe I’ll be smarter after going
or learn things I don’t want to learn
Most city-raised people are afraid to enter deep wilderness, especially in winter. They become afraid when far from any road, where bears are known to live, or rattle snakes. but I embraced it from an early age in Pasadena, growing up within reach of the San Gabriel Mountains. My parents thought it strange that I would run away and camp there without telling anyone. Those were the days, and I’m still doing it.
I feel like I’m cheating and I love it.
Hello dear Sharon There you are again indeed!
ReplyDeleteLove the reverse perceptions-- that being home was just a dream a break in between the real adventure you are on.
I'll be showing your blog on screen today at a pop up-- with Siggi and whoever else pops in today at 5 our time.
That will be a treat. And tomorrow at 11 am too
You have that winter glow!!
Love Kathabela
Dear Kathabela,
DeleteI think your pop up and my blog have something in common. They provide those who cannot get out as much as the wish a digital alternative. They want to share in person and travel in person, and we provide simulations. It’s a ghostly kind of adventure for them even if they don’t believe it’s real. Imagination takes us where we can’t otherwise go.
smiles true! I loved hearing Lois P Jones and Melissa Studdard today on a zoom program -- amazing poems by both-- we all rise our heads out of the challenges to take on the creative dream, the persona odyssey. Fill the pockets in our heads with gems....
DeleteIt's like my last 82 years
ReplyDeleteeach year returns to replace
the previous.
It's like walking North North
in snow on Nordick Tracks.
If you walk long enough
you'll return to where you started.
The beginning of the end starts
at the beginning.
Round and round life goes sometimes, Alex, walking north only to walk the same north-trekking trail again and again. But I'll always look for the nuance, the path not taken, or taken before but with new possibilities. I have to, because it's there--the path with more snow, the lake with more ice, the cafe with new people, the poem not written, and you with an new slant on an old idea. I'll do it again today.
DeleteI learn a lot about California by leaving it ... yes, and about anything else, we learn by leaving
ReplyDeletewinter's hard revision :) ... yes, so beautifully said
learn things I don't want to learn ...
YES, YOU ARE STILL DOING - THESE ARE STILL THE DAYS :)
Toti, I love your attitude and the things you picked from what I wrote. Some say I am brave to go where covid thrives and people don't seen to care. It's not brave, it's just living. I will stop living soon enough. I wish you well on your steep hillside where a tree seems suffering, but not defeated, and where your son, the ambitious, is building to be close to his mother.
DeleteDear Sharon,
ReplyDeleteI adore your line: Everything changes between summer's sprawling past and winter's hard revision. Like you "a California girl" born and raised, I have learned to embrace winter glories of essence and "revision." I thought of your line walking this morning to a sunny, but bitter winter sky of 27 degrees.
Enjoy the journey!
Kathy
Kathy, I came here expecting winter’s hard revision, but so far winter is mild. As heavy snow falls in Maine, I almost wish I’d made it my destination. But there is a kind of storm here in Sublette County, Wyoming, a storm where danger is unseen. Only 33% of residents are vaccinated. They meet inside without masks, don’t distance in the Boulder bar or the Wrangler Cafe. Kids are in school without masks and not distanced. And there’s hardly any talk about covid. I have not seen a single sign or heard a single media message preaching covid precautions. Numbers are high, like they are in most of the country, but precautions are much lower here. Am I trekking a winter storm where all I’ve learned about safety needs to be reconsidered?
DeleteDearest Sharon,
DeleteI understand the confusion one experiences watching the disconnect between science and human behavior. A 33% vaccination rate is even lower than the 50% reflected here in Arkansas. Stay safe dear friend. As Maslow stated: safety is a most primary need. The foundation.