image by buttkus
Natural High
“The poetry of the earth is never dead.”--John Keats.
I stopped by a pal’s place yesterday on the high plateau at the edge
of the foothills, the shoulder pads for Mt. Rainier. We grabbed our
cameras & drove up along the northern thigh of the grand mountain,
where various levels of reforestation reside, from seedlings to 80 ft.
regrowth. Here & there were the spared elder 100 foot firs towering
over everything--lamenting the ancient scars left on several hillsides,
the clear cuts, looking like mange spots on stray dogs.
Soon we traveled along the familiar Forest Service Road 70, enjoying
the steep serpentine journey up into the secret pass, Nachez, a passage
known only to hunters, loggers, geologists, & woodsmen. We stopped
at the crest, above 5000 feet, where squads of clouds drifted ghostly
below us like wispy boas draped on the verdant necks of the hilltops.
We stopped, got out & raised our arms to the cerulean sky, framed by
bleached white snags whose twisted limbs all pointed toward her
majesty, Rainier--capped in flat lenticulars, partially mantled with a
fat puffy cumulus vest, many of her cliffs & crags exposed naked to
the heat rays of July; but glorious still in her summer outfit.
Breath that delicious chilled air--Christ, I wish we could bottle it!
Weaving down the east side of Nachez, we could still hear the wind’s
angelic choir serenading us; windows down, gulping the sweet perfume
of jack pines, larch, & cottonwoods.
Your heart becomes a
harp when you are welcomed by
mountain majesty.
Glenn Buttkus
Such vivid imagery...and clever too....love the depiction of the foothills as shoulder pads, the clouds, "like wispy boas draped on the verdant necks of the hilltops" and the "fat puffy cumulus vest"---just so incredibly rich in description. Wow. Thanks for linking up.
ReplyDeleteIf you do bottle it, I will buy some. Ha. Cool that you know one of those secret pathes throught he woods too. Not too many people having been down them. When you change that perspective from so high up as well, it can be so beautiful as well.
ReplyDeleteYour heart becomes a
ReplyDeleteharp when you are welcomed by
mountain majesty.
Such deep and thoughtful lines!!
I can love the scent and view of the mountain high ~ The haibun is lush with nature's details and that ending haiku is exquisite ~ My heart is stringing along with you ~
ReplyDeleteYou are on the haibun high Glenn ~ Kudos ~
This made me take a deep breath and imagine the cool purity of the mountain air. There is a freshness to this that echoes the subject and how fun to work with Haibun. You are so versatile.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful contribution Glenn. I love the idea of bottling chilled air. :)
ReplyDeleteI felt like
ReplyDeletei was standing beside you! Great Haiku
Glenn, I really enjoyed this prose piece and the haiku at the end. Have seen just what you are talking about a long time ago. Well done. Smiles...>KB
ReplyDeleteNicely said, my friend. We even captured a few bits of time on our cameras, used later to approximate what the mind's eye saw.
ReplyDeleteYou really have some great imagery and I just wanted to jump inside this place and the secret pass..the ending haiku left me breathless..simply beautiful.
ReplyDeleteA haibun, isn't it - with that final haiku capturing the essence of your prose-poem?
ReplyDeleteI particularly liked this image:
wispy boas draped on the verdant necks of the hilltops
Like a grand old dame...
love this nature haibun & the end haiku is exquisite...nature in her true glory so wonderfully captivated....
ReplyDeletehad a friend from France who longed for those mountains in late July... they are refreshing to the soul
ReplyDeleteGlenn - they did some clear cutting near our cabin in Wyoming and the slash piles are like funeral pyres of ancient warriors. I know it comes back, but not in my lifetime sadly.
ReplyDeleteI liked this and I think that perhaps poetry starts in the mountains and quiet places.
A danger of a desert is
ReplyDeletenever mountain view..
where human becomes
bigger than Nature.
problems
can and do
arise.. for
now..
I never see
a REAL mountain
Glenn.. i make Hills
Mountains of woRds
instead.. haha! but yes
it's on my Bucket list to
do the real thing higher!..:)
Oh your writing makes me yearn to experience the mountains once again!
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing like mountain majesty to make a person glad to be alive.
This is incredibly beautiful - you took us right there, with all the senses firing. What a glorious peak Mt Rainier is..........a brilliant write! Loved it.
ReplyDeletewonderful prose poetry in your haibun. My heart, too, becomes a harp when I am able to see the mountains.
ReplyDelete"the spared elder" ... I love that phrase!
ReplyDeleteOoh, this is really beautiful: "lamenting the ancient scars"
And these:
"the steep serpentine journey"
"the secret pass, Nachez" (great sound play in this)
"a passage
known only to hunters, loggers, geologists, & woodsmen" (divine sound; you have such a great ear!)
"where squads of clouds drifted ghostly"
"below us ... wispy boas"
"framed by bleached white snags"
"whose twisted limbs all pointed toward her"
Sublime: "many of her cliffs & crags exposed naked to
the heat rays of July; but glorious still in her summer outfit."
"gulping the sweet perfume
of jack pines, larch, & cottonwoods"
"Your heart becomes a
harp"
One little error: "Breath" really needs an "e" on the end. Other than that, STUNNING writing, my friend. ;)
lots of fun adjectives, lots
ReplyDeletecool poeticized diary entry!