Elk Bones is much more than a Saturday afternoon stroll in the woods to snap pictures of tall trees, idyllic winding streams, birds and wild flowers. Instead, the author takes us on a compelling journey where we experience nature’s joyful beauty, wonder, darkness, and… the ominous threats to its future. These thirty-seven poems share a life-long spiritual odyssey into a vital part of our lives that we too often take for granted.
Book excerpt:
Black Lake Bones
Stepping into the hushed forest
the air
like a thick dark syrup
slides slowly through the trees.
The bones call, tug,
an earthy whisper,
insistent,
primitive,
a tendril of instinct
curls in my chest.
Move.
Move toward the shadows
through broken tangled branches
down the long steep banks
of rich humus
to green mossy places
where black bears sleep
dreaming of plump ripe berries.
Move down
through heavy sensual air
over curved slippery roots
and steamy rot
around mammoth stumps
looming in the muted light
like fossilized beasts.
Move down from safe footing
into the treacherous silent ravine
lurching,
sliding,
crawling
through ferny damp,
soggy springy twigs,
into the moist cleavage of earth.
Boots sink
into decomposing litter
descending
toward primal emotion,
a shadowy flicker of white,
into the story
of bones.