Harney Peak
I guess if the truth be told
I prefer Crazy Horse Monument
Down on Thunder mountain
to those four big presidential heads,
But I like the quiet dream times
I have spent on Harney Peak.
The wind blew softly through the pines
With a bite and chill
That reminded me,
no matter the calendar
Winter is never far off
Among these peaks.
I guess if the truth be told
I prefer Crazy Horse Monument
Down on Thunder mountain
to those four big presidential heads,
But I like the quiet dream times
I have spent on Harney Peak.
-------------------
Mount Mitchell
I have a folded and dirty map
of Mount Mitchell,
But I don’t know how to get there.
I have a folded map
Detailing normalcy
And I have no idea
How to get there
And why I search.
----------------
Timms Peak
There is a hill called ‘Timms’
In the land of cows and cheese.
Madison and Milwaukee
May be all you know,
Since Wisconsin seems flat.
Hill of moles or mountain,
I will let you decide.
Little Timms Hill,
Lives in Wisconsin.
Worn by everyday stress,
I came to Wisconsin to relax,
Seeking to hide from the hub-bub.
Cheese curd lunches helped,
On many a wander to Timms Hill,
Needing the ease of seclusion.
Saturday morning I sat atop
In the light of a brilliant sunrise,
Needing no higher peak.
-----------------
Spruce Knob
Spruce Mountain,
Pride of the West Virginia
Ridges of the Alleghenies,
Under clear blue skies,
Childlike and innocent
Elevates towards the heavens.
Knob’s whale-backed ridges,
North to south,
Only sixteen miles
Bring me home to West Virginia.
---------------------
Utah
How much further?
I was trying to think
What I knew about Utah
So I could tell my daughter tales
While driving through.
I know next to nothing
About Mormons,
Or Salt Lake City
So we drove in silence
Until we reached
Nevada, closer to California
And her dramatic departure
And reunited time
With her mother
And other family.
How much further?
-------------------
Vermont
Vermont
“Hey Emily, this is the green mountain state.”
It was,
And also the land
Of miles and miles
Of 45 mph and slower
Winding roads
That maddened me,
So in a passing zone
I wound the old Dodge up
To somewhere above 80,
Until a State Trooper,
Let me know a little
About law and order
And not endangering your child
While flying through
Vermont.
“Hey Emily, this is the green mountain state.”
---------------------
Virginia
Virginia
I was trying to think
Of something smart and clever
To write about my visit
To Virginia,
But then I realized
That life isn’t always fun
When your car
Gets vandalized
While parked in the dimly lit
Back lot
Of a cheap motel
In Virginia.
--------------
White Butte
White Butte,
High above the fields,
In the land of The Lakota
This is our mountain,
Eternally belonging to no one.
Butte is like the buffalo,
Untamed and untamable,
Trudging across the plane,
The Butte lasts forever;
Eternity belonging to no one.
-------------
Woodall Mountain
Way down in Mississippi
Over by that muddy river
On top of the hill we snuggled.
Doubting the title ‘mountain.’
At 806 feet
Little Woodall,
Like a beacon called us.
Made six feet taller,
Our seat on Jeep roof,
Under the stars,
Nearer the ghosts of that war,
Than to the modern world,
Aims at a long love.
In the Mississippi night,
No one loves Woodall like I love you.
Comments