Ahead
The water road winds ahead
never weary of reflecting the blue sky above,
like a mid-century Hamms beer commercial.
Harvey is focused on me.
Perhaps he’s hungry or bored with the rocking motion,
perhaps he’s wondering about his life vest,
perhaps there’s something behind me,
besides the breakneck pace of
life we’ve left behind.
Life, pushed off from;
as we glide into
the envelope of wilderness.
There’s a feeling of closeness that masks
the vastness of this wide open space.
Perhaps that’s why the Boundary Waters is said
to draw folks to itself.
Like the wings of a mother bird,
or a blanket over your shoulders on a cold January night
close to the wood stove.
Perhaps it why I never feel alone
on a solo trip. Anyway, how solo is it
with this guy in the bow?
Up ahead there’s a rock we’ll take a nap on
in the sun, after lunch. We’ll probably wake up
to otters playing in the lake or painted turtles
splashing as one by one by one
they dive off their mid-day log.
Even now with the ache in my shoulders
I can feel the granite’s heartbeat
underneath all of this,
all of us.
The backbone of a soundtrack rising.
©Timothy James Stouffer 07182018
All Rights Reserved Ely, MN
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