Fire

Fire and Water

/ Korin Thomas / Leave a comment

La Wis Wis Camp - Rain

My evening fire burns
slowly in a drizzling calm
waiting for a breath –

A silent forest
green breeze; bending river rush
glacial fed chill wind.

Behind, ceaseless sound
river coursing down and down
flowing, no effort

Pouring over rock
carrying away mountain
no need for my hand.

Quickens now my fire
a warm blaze rising at last
crackling in twilight

Keep I it a while
for the night is passing fast
soon will embers be

A little longer
how much longer I don’t know
the rain quickening.

Late June, 2016 – La Wis Wis campground, south of Tahoma National Park.

Photo is my own, taken from La Wis Wis campground.  The river is the Ohanapecosh flowing from the glaciers of Tahoma.)

Tahoma – White River Morning

/ Korin Thomas / 2 Comments

DSCN0018

Morning fire at White River camp.

Tahoma’s face in glacial ice
blooms over the still camping ground –
a volcanic flower rising
above the valley, in cedar
blanketed, in fir, spruce, hemlock;
it opens in ridged fields of ice,
as petals in colors of snow
unfolding on drowsing campers
who wake in frigid morning slate,
yawning beneath the evergreens
as first light through the dawn filters.

Awake, awake! Time waits for you.
Blow your mortal breath on these sticks
until hesitant flames quicken
into the life and warmth you seek.

White River’s silted grit and seethe
hidden in shadows of cold dawn
rushes in crumbling rock and scrub.
In her rumbling and scurried flow
she waits for none who stir their fires;
spreads herself over valley floor
gathering gravel, stones, boulders
into thunking cacophony
telling of time and its passing
to the Salish sea and beyond.

Awake, awake! Time will not wait
for you to blow on your morning fire.
A path leads across the river
to the high country camping ground.

Portland, Oregon – April 28, 2016

“Tahoma” is one of the native tribal names for what is commonly called Mt. Rainier (Washington state -USA). “Ti’Swaq” is the name chosen by the Alliance to Restore Native Names. It means “the sky wiper” because it touches the sky.

The photo of Tahoma and the White River valley is my own, taken from White River campground on a late summer day.

After Easter

/ Korin Thomas / Leave a comment

After Easter alleluias
brunch and bunches
of spring flowers in vases
the effort of work
age gathering letting go
staring at the moon
sweet face before our eyes
brushes of spring and autumn.

Vigil

The blaze of the new fire –
primal roaring crackle
throwing violent sparks into the night
stills to silent flames tamed
on candles held singly against the darkness.
Sung proclamations batter church walls
bells ringing raising banners
procession leading white robed dancers
rafters receive rising incense clouds
Easter bloom from death.

Fade to succession of days
leading away from steeples
oaken doors clothed altars hushed apses
into snug pubs food carts coffee joints
bestowing on each other our time
broken laughter intimate love words
knowing neither beginning or end
there too am I with a raised glass
remembering occasionally
fleeting moments of clarity
like bells far away
the new fire burns
dancers whirl in the night
incense billows in deep forests
stars hold celestial banners
the air itself breathes alleluias.

Portland, Oregon – Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016

The images in this work are from the celebration of the Easter Vigil, the culmination of the three day service known as the Triduum, or, the “Three Days:” The Vigil is held on the Saturday evening before Easter Sunday

Also, my recognition and thanks to the great French poet Arthur Rimbaud for his beautiful line: “I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; Garlands from window to window; Golden chains from star to star … And I dance.” I thought of that when I wrote, above, “Stars hold celestial banners.”