image from va.gov.com
At American Lake
“America without its veterans, is like God
without his angels .”--Dwight D. Eisenhower
ower.
I never had to ask for a pay hike the 27 years
I worked at the American Lake Veteran’s Hospital,
near Tacoma. Luckily we were on the GS system
which promoted in exacting increments relative to
your time employed.
The building I worked in was in the quiet southern
corner of the compound adjacent to the lake. My
office window had a grand view of the lake, which
helped to counter balance all the bureaucratic bull
shit one puts up with as a civil servant. The parking
lot was a full block from our building, so I had a
modest hike every morning and evening; often in a
driving rain.
We were surrounded by towering Douglas Fir trees,
many of which toppled in wind storms. We were
adjacent to the fence for North Ft. Lewis; deer and
raccoons would visit us from there.
A nesting pair of
eagles could be seen outside
my window; such joy.
Glenn Buttkus
Haibun
Posted over at d'Verse Poet's Pub
13 comments:
I love the balance between bureaucracy and nature you could find in such a location... and automatic pay hikes ... that was a long time since I experienced that.
WOW. I love the semblance of nature you delve here in this piece. I as well love the way you write in this form; you have a very intriguing writing style.
Being that close to the lake, I'm hoping the veterans were able to while away many hours at its edge.
Thanks for sharing this Glenn. Interesting and meaningful career brother — bullshit not withstanding. Killer pic!
A hike within a hike, with a beautiful view to interrupt the aggravation of bureaucracy! Excellent!
Seeing nesting eagles outside your window must have been a wonderful sight. Love the haibun.
You have such an interesting history, Glenn, and your experiences always surprise me. I’m glad you went with the pay hike angle for this prompt. I like the fairness of pay rises in ‘exacting increments relative to your time employed’ and the fact that you had a view of a lake, trees and a nesting eagle from your office window. At least you kept fit hiking from car to office and back.
Mr Rainier is always breath-taking, especially when heavy with snow.
Seeing nesting eagles must have been quite something!
I love the way you've described your past history in the government here.....juxtaposing the brick and mortar building and mundane things like getting paid, to the majesty of the scene that was right outside. The lake and the beautiful Mt. Rainier, right? I do enjoy it when we learn tidbits of your life through your posts! :)
It's great the way you use two meanings of hike to pivot the poem. And in between, the description of bureaucracy gives urgency to the access to the natural world. Ed Abbey described wild places as necessary pressure releases: if you wanted civilization, you would also need to the wilderness to keep us from going crazy and destroying each other.
Like others have commented, your haibun is such a nice blend of the government building and work life with pay hikes, and the beauty of nature around it. Being able to watch nesting eagles must have been wonderful. I saw an eagle yesterday, and it was so exciting.
Love the blending of beauty and bureaucracy.
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