Bella Coola - inspired poetry

At the suggestion of a friend (thanks, Scott!), here are some poems that were inspired by Bella Coola, where I lived for around 15 years.

Bear Tracks

Hauntingly beautiful

clouds ease the ache

all the red farms on the roadside

moccasins and thunder

losing myself in the immersion

river slides along over jade-green

slices of self

Barren trees ripped open years before

still standing silently

sopping wet willows

the death of soul

points to you, your death

in my eyes

Bear tracks on the sandbar

alienation

of sea and sky

by all the white that separates us

One from another

from the warmth of human contact

intersection point

unchanging.

Avian Things

word is a force

joined by song

taken under the wing

broken by our doubt

in suffering

shoulderbones

knit

and heal

but don't fuse over

the joints and tender reeds

that move us

avian

things

in migration,

noticing the detail of the clouds,

and how they move along the mountain

train of fog above the river

going both ways

thinning in the middle but never breaking

until the moon rises above the fjords-

songs

cracking ice over the puddles

pub-holes

grub-holes

winter

dead

marsh

becomes their home

honking

presence

lingering

traffic

above the powerlines

raking the sky.

Crunch

Crunch

of boots on brittle needles

orangish glow – to it all

the bracken

oh the bracken in the lows and highs, hungry species

filling up the empty spaces

takeover of the random

and unworkable

in the barren, cursed land

entropy foils all my greatest plans.

The Hidden Valley started in my head when I was 11 or 12 years old, the same age as the main characters.  I tried but never finished the narrative.  In 2010, my family moved back to Bella Coola, the Coast region neighboring the Chilcotin region, where the story is set.  I thought, if there is ever a time to write this story, it is now.  So I did.

The equine publisher, Lavender and White, has picked it up and we are going ahead with publishing an e-book, beginning in April and it probably will come out at the end of summer or mid-fall, depending on how much editing has to be done.

I am also delighted to add that they have looked at my sketches of the main characters and have given me the go-ahead to design my own cover.

Writing and illustrating my own books has been a dream for a long time - so this is a dream come true!  Now to find the child care...