from the void
the mountain speaks
the beat goes on
in these desolate peaks
moss covered stacks
of sea floor and mantle
embrace and fold
in metamorphic tangle
stunted fir clings
graying roots exposed
a rocky, barren life
is all this sapling knows
snowcapped elderberry
scale the crevice
where bear and wind
make raucous passage
avalanche chutes
gracefully recline
in verdant shades
to the waterline
lie in the meadow
to calm the chatter
make still the noise
to blunt the clatter
upon the coming
of soft night
undress this silence
angel mine
*I came to a point where I needed solitude and just stop the machine of 'thinking' and 'enjoying' what they call 'living,' I just wanted to lie in the grass and look at the clouds.
-Jack Kerouac
Just got back from our annual fishing trip in the North Cascades of Washington state. From a remote campground on the lake, one can hike steep Desolation Peak to the fire lookout where Jack Kerouac spent 63 days as a fire spotter in 1956. His experiences there were inspiration for the classic "Desolation Angels". My reference to "the void" arises from Kerouac's comment about the mountain looming largest in his view from the lookout - Mt. Hozomeen - which he described as "the void". Little has changed since 1956, still remote, still amazingly beautiful. I've yet to hike to the lookout (too busy catching rainbows, trout that is!) but it's on my "must do" list.
