Haa ak-suuk Creek

 

This is a good spot-

to plop, 

untie,

slip off,

laces & socks.

set down upon rocks, 

this dusty old pack,

lighten my back,

cool wet liquid,

for feet to take a drink,

A good spot,

for a swallowtail to investigate,

a salmon-colored hat,

to flutter off again,

to sample all the flowers the forest has to offer.

The mountainside bends here,

It’s a good spot,

to sneak a drink while she pours delicately into her forest glass,

tiny bits of bark and pollen sail down her 

slippery currents,

between rocks and gravel,

they help to smooth the ones I curl and settle these swollen feet into, the crevices in her rocky floor

It’s a good spot here, 

in the narrows, between the birch and cedars,

their roots clench and climb together fortifying the underground,

pushing upwards, they guide me carefully back to the bridge I descended from.  

This is a good spot, 

to awaken-

from cyclical movements, utterances, preoccupations,

to take on a new aroma,

ready to set off,

for another day.