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What We Didn't Read by the Falls
by Kathleen Wilson
warnings on the trail
came to us by early hikers
already on their way back
as we set out
into the old hills
by the new quarry
we saw the rescue team
coming with their tall buckets
and tools their long plastic gloves
determined expressions
we pulled aside and let them pass
to go on ahead to do their work
pure wilderness
the new blooms of early spring
the side trails we took
and darlin' donna
her fallin' song a prelude
in her light clear voice
all the while our trepidation
about trouble ahead
mixed with the stream sound
reports of an ugly scene
around the magnificent bend
over the great falls
we imagined
wondered
hoped to see nothing
that it would be all cleaned up
before we got there
and it was so
we were speechless
before the roar of
Fish Canyon Falls
and she was pristine
there were no words
but ours
and they came slowly
after we passed
volunteers on their way out
carrying the remains
grey and beige
paint and brushes
graffiti crew
justly proud of their work
we saw no words over the waterfall
wilderness was safe
for another day
from bad poets
no words but ours
and they came slowly
we mixed them aloud
invisible
our mist our spray
of waterfallen words 03/10/2008 Author's Note: Another poem from our hike to Fish Canyon Falls on Saturday
Posted on 03/11/2008
Copyright © 2024 Kathleen Wilson
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by David Garner on 03/11/08 at 02:01 PM the build in this poem is fantastic. right from the beginning, you hooked me in. love the line "wilderness was safe
for another day
from bad poets". I like that I expected something gruesome, and what I got was not what I thought. but perhaps just as gruesome as I had imagined. |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 03/11/08 at 08:47 PM You had me wondering, and I did not want to read ahead. A happy ending, indeed...and your own final stanza a gem! Thanks. |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 03/17/08 at 04:21 AM I loved the mix of dread and anticipation that you built inside me. "wilderness was safe
for another day
from bad poets" - a great stanza, followed by the last two.
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