This poem was inspired by the interviews by Earl K. Pollon and S. S. Matheson conducted with native Sekanni peoples who were negatively effected by the flooding of their communal homelands by the building of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. “This Was Our Valley” tells that story of injustice. 640 square miles of riverfront and hunting […]
We Paddled Into The Jaws of Hell We paddled into the jaws of hell. We had chosen the most treacherous stretch of the 755-mile Liard River, abandoned by Hudson’s Bay fur traders in 1870 because of its heavy toll of men and craft. My brother Barry and I decided to reconquer it. It turned […]
Spider’s Rigging “I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and as the wind on the morning of April 24, 1895 was fair, at noon I weighed anchor, set sail, and filled away from Boston, where the Spray had been moored snugly all winter. A thrilling pulse beat high in me. My step […]
Las Vegas, Pigeons and Gamblers! At the Angel Park Golf and Country Club The pigeons sported neck scarves Of iridescent iris, white and blue As they hopped with expectations Around divots in the turf, Now filled with sand and seed By a golfer’s hand And side-eyed morsels with Tilting beaks in obvious delight Seemingly […]
My Evenings With a Mouse Once I shared by evenings with a mouse By cliff face tall in tiny house By Fraser river flow, near Chilliwack By a truckers’ café I had my shack One room, kitchen nook, and can, Not enough for a married man. Away from home five days a week. I thought […]
Float Home Cruise Ship The cruise ship charged Whistleless at my sail boat In a narrow channel Between Islands Of The Salish Sea. I was powerless with sails up Tacking against a current Knotted against me. The water boiled. I recoiled In dread I could see them Cosmetic lazy travellers Lounging unconcerned Tending to their […]
The Land Was A Loom ( revised 18rd dec. 2019 ) I sailed the fjords between Powell River and Drury Inlet to beyond the Salish Sea. The land itself spoke from mountains, water falls, islets From bird song and bear splashing fishers From rutting moose and cougars sharp incisors. The place has a scale that needs […]
Impermanence. We’re waves Thaw, melt and freeze Impermanence of breeze We’re castles of sand – Leveled by bully’s hand We’re spider webs and beaver dams all Mists and illusions ephemeral We’re mountains disappearing We’re rivers just appearing – Carrying cliffs to emerald sea Forming deltas of eddying debris We’re a smile of effervescence A vivacity […]
Bike Training For Mr. President Trump? Dear Mr. Editor; It was my grand daughter’s sixth birthday when Donald Trump won the vote for President. We are watching Hillary on television. Marilyn had wanted Hillary to win probably because I did. I had talked about the glass ceiling, how Hillary would break it, be the first […]
Envirowritings of Wally du Temple Bees Bees, blossoming flowers and fruits are foundational to the lives of all creatures, great and small. Soil, sun, plants, bees and mammals – from ancient times they gave birth to civilizations. Most civilizations honored the bees and flowers in paintings, stories, sculptures and poetry. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886 ) wrote […]
My Old Saddle Like a heavy rose in silver and leather Every stitch a life, thirty-three pounds In cow hide, veined by fields In the foothills of Alberta, Reined and grained by waving wheat, Watered by a woodland creek, Nourished by the mouths of cattle, Shaped by the hands of an artist Tooled in flower […]