BIG SUNSHINE

GETTING TO HIGH CAMP

for Marissa and Sara, Light Keepers at High Camp

You can't see this place in bad weather.
A man in a ski suit told me the architect

had it wrong. He wanted a bar stool
with a view at the bottom of the hill.

High Camp is beauty in-between beauty.
High Camp is on a children's map

in a children's movie. Show me the way.
It's a light show. Find it between snowlight

and skylight. Go to any Mile Post marker.
Find the place between before

and after. Get your balance
and let go. Find your dream fall

and curl into something you'd forgotten.
Carry a book of poems in your pack

for re-assurance that you're here.
This is a real place. The architect had it right.

Jim Bodeen
14 February 2011

THE SO BIG VALENTINE FOR KAREN

For showing me the true response is no response,
and for confirming that, for this is listening,
for there is nothing to be done but that,
and that is all. To do more dams the river.

Jim Bodeen
14 February 2011

SCAFFOLDING IN THE TEMPLE OF LIGHT

Big trees give themselves up
so we might find this place on skis
and rest in the light with the kids.
Not a shelter as much as a holding place for songlight.
Midweek it's a shape shifter for elders,
an elder-village with children, inner vision
from the spirit time. It's a walk-up
dream stair with clicking boot heels.
Impossible to resist, this light
comes from kindergarten.
You're the child walking through the door
getting another chance.
Someone sees you wearing your old smile.
You had forgotten you were this good.
You say something to a stranger
so strange you ignore your blush
in mid-breath, and keep whistling.
Everywhere I go, I'm going to let it shine.
It's raining blessings and you're not
ducking for cover.

Jim Bodeen
13 February 2011


BIG SUNSHINE

Cancels bad weather
Brings with it a chance of snow
Vitamin's fresh tracks

Jim Bodeen
13 February 2011