Carolan mailed part of her New Zealand journal and a new poem to us recently. Here's a poem called "Breathed Mountain, Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia."
Pushing, swishing, whirling the grasses in wisps, scooping and
Lifting, flattening, stomping. The wind taunts, the grasses cower,
Then,
The breath.
We felt the breath around us, licking at our bodies,
Flickering wind-flames rushing by from every direction.
Heavy smoke exhaled from the knobby peak, pouring
Over the rock-cluttered hilltop meadow.
Breathing down in whispers and then
Whipping, wisping, slipping.
Breathe it, engulf it, gasp for more.
Breathe this mountain, this land, consume this
Hazy dream of a mountain, gulp down the grassy meadows
And rocky ledges with frantic asthmatic drags.
Breathed Mountain
Just a hushed murmur, a sigh,
A wispy wind of a place.
Fleeting--
Breathing--
Breathless--
Carolan’s New Zealand Journal Entry for March 15, 2008. I will place it in lines, as if it were poetry. The only things I’ve changed: lines and capitalization.
Saturday, March 15
Camping, tramping, a durn good toe stamping!
This is a girl who likes her some backcountry!
Hello and welcome to my tent home
On the mountainside above Lake Ruby.
Today we hiked about 6 hours over rock and cliff
And stumbly grasses and steep steep steep
Holy moly I might blow off the mountaintop.
It was hard and huffy-puffy
And my smile nearly popped off my face,
As it exceeded normal dimensions.
The view is sing and dance beautiful,
Little cupfuls of blue sparkles splashed over the craggy rocks,
Grass that glimmers red when swaying in the light,
Spiny backbones of the mountains
Rising up and up.
[This posting of Carolan's poem does not constitute publication. She owns the copyright, with all rights reserved to her, Carolan R. Coughlin.]
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