WAKING ON THE CLEARWATER



FIDDLE FART

Like I just said,
for an hour,
trying to download
photos on Facebook

but I wrote
a poem in 5 minutes
before that
and it made my day

Jim Bodeen
27 August 2016


AFTER GRILLING STREET TACOS
BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD
ABOUT 15 MILES BELOW LOLO PASS


I put my feet
in the Lochsa River
and take a drink of iced tea
Pick up the notebook

When I leave here
I will read my notes
telling me to pick up
my camera

Jim Bodeen

27 August 2016


















ALA' LIMYA TAKANIIN
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE
HE COULDN'T SHAKE IN THE DREAM,
CHIEF LOOKING GLASS,
COMING UP AGAIN,
CYCLONE TRAVELER

He was two days
on the rivers, famous ones,
to say their names
takes one into the current

that never comforts.
Clearwater. Loscha.
Looking Glass. Howard.
Nez Perce. Lolo Pass.

Rivers of names,
Lewis and Clark,
running through rivers.
He'd stop at turnouts

read the markers,
wade in the water
overturn stones,
remembering his teacher,

Don't scratch the stones,
Put them back,
No I don't see faces,
I see landscapes

Rivers and mountains.
He had to remind himself
with each step,
Don't slip in the current

Jim Bodeen
26 August 2016







WAKING ON THE CLEARWATER
NEAR KOOSKIA, IDAHO

I look for the trail to the water,
crossing canoe pulled up in grass
with an abandoned life jacket.
Nearby, discarded lawn chairs
and a styrofoam cooler in weeds.
I pick up two smooth stones
and put them in my pack
recalling my teacher's words
in the Suiseki Kawa Dojo,
classroom on the river,
They're nice, Jim,
but they're still flat grey rocks.

Returning to the Mothership
I copy story by David Archambault II,
Taking a Stand at Standing Rock
from the New York Times
into my notebook, beginning,
"Our elders of the Seven Council Fires,
as the Oceti Sakowin, or Great Sioux Nation,
sit in prayer and deliberation
awaiting a federal court decision
on whether construction of a $3.7 billioN
oil pipeline from the Bakken region
to Southern Illinois will be halted."

Cutting the honeydew melon
on the cutting board, a sweet and juicy
gift from our neighbor, I wash lettuce
in the sink, still troubled by a phone call. 
I look around the camper
for something like a word
to help my heart expand.

This is the middle fork of the Clearwater
and I drive into Kooskia for some form
of orientation. On the wall
in the Kooskia Cafe, a black and white
photograph of Chief Joseph
with James Stuart and Alice Fletcher.
On the way out of town, a sign:
Purple Feather Smoke Shop.

At the Tukaytespe' Picnic Area
another sign remembers Looking Glass
talking to Howard: Leave us alone.
I pick two ripe blackberries
the size of my thumb.

Jim Bodeen
26-27 August 2016







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