Enga mellom fjella

In the evening. A beaver den or dam? Is that Heaven or Hell?

In the evening
         
In the evening:
the comforting roar of the Saturday bus,
the muted sound of distant traffic,
the glow before dark.

I can almost
hear you above the hum of the grain elevator,
the heater turning on or off;
almost see your laugh.

In the evening
when the day has died and night has birthed,
there is comfort in the rhythm of this place you've never been,
and the promise I may see you again.

© Kåre Enga 2008 [164.481] 2008-01-26

When I was speaking to my mother last night, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was purple at the western horizon, an orange glow in the southeast. It faded to indigo in the west under a haze of puce, rose-purple in the west. At 6:13 there was a left-over dark blue-green where the sun had set. This is the gloaming in winter.

The poem is a response to not having seen a dear friend for almost 5 years ...

IMAGES:

Snow on top of slush, the squish beneath my foot; bleached out beige leaves hiding in the withered grass; a man sitting on the ground waiting for the bus; dog poop along the nature trail; water flowing over ice the color of weak black tea; glint of sun off geese in flight, their honks; in open water, mirror of the shore, the ice soft and opaque; beaver shavings, gnawed bark; dog licks; a log atop ice in the middle of the lake; ice chunk caught in ice flows caught in the ice; flutter of light and dark wings, the frustration of poor eyesight; the ghost of green string in a tree; locust thorns; midges; kelly-green moss; the clutch and stab of rose; a tufted titmouse at a feeder; sand in the gutters, a trickle of water.

PUBLISHING and other WEIRD MUSINGS:

I looked up LightningSource (USA/UK) because I heard it mentioned twice in two days by poets and publishers as a place to go for p.o.d. (print-on-demand). This link is helpful:

http://www.aaronshep.com/publishing/index.html

Seems I'd have to become a publishing company to get the benefits, but that is an idea! And probably cheaper than spending $30k on an MFA I may never get a job from. At my age that is an issue.

I also had this quirky idea of setting up talks with fellow poets. I already need to contact Elizabeth Schultz about ekphrasis as I promised. Thomas Reynolds has written to photos too.

And poetry of place? Amy Fleury comes to mind. Brian Daldorph also; he's great at capturing people as well.

All of a sudden the poetry scene here has improved tremendously. Where has it been for the last 3 years? I went to an event on Thursday, one on Friday and have one scheduled for Tuesday.

OVERHEARD:

Looking at signs of beaver by Mary's Lake someone told me yesterday, "It's a den not a dam." I responded, "Is that the difference between Heaven and Hell?" His wife got it.

ME:

I doing coffee at Z's. It Sunday ... so, of course.

Still having nightmares. Maybe if I could remember them, it might help.

Daydreaming about Norway. Next week? Maybe Mississippi? Why? Why not!

I walked here today. Walked to the nature preserve yesterday. Two days of brilliant sunshine and mild temps. I need to get out more often. It's essential in winter.

A stray thought: "There will never be enough time to bore you with the details of my life ... that's what we have eternity for."

"mine and urine" = mine and yourn = mine and yours.

Reading material: Ghost Town Almanac, by Thomas D. Reynolds and Beautiful Trouble by Amy Fleury. I'm buying copies of local poets whenever I can. Met Amy again on Thursday night and Thomas and his wife Ruby on Friday (they seemed familiar, but I don't know why ...).

POLLS:

See my previous entry for the two polls I made: "Reigning cats and DOGS!" 

Finally being voted on! One has 21 votes, the other 15. Any guess which pet is winning? Dachshunds must have a fan club.

Kansas: 58º; 72 in Liberal! 39 in Missoula, MT and snow forecast. May hit 60 here tomorrow.

1965