SKIER'S HUMILITY

ASLEEP ON THE COUCH
WITH A CUP OF COFFEE
ON MY CHEST

 

It doesn't tip until after it's cooled.

Jim Bodeen
20 February 2011

BACK IN THE MOTHERSHIP AT HIGH FOREST CAMP

WITH MY GRANDSON AFTER SKIING ON HOGBACK,

JOSH SITS ON THE BED WITH BATMAN

WHILE I PUT SWEETGRASS INTO THE VCR

for Dan Peters

Isolated in beauty, the world can't compete

for the minds of children. Hey, Grandpa,

hop up here, climb across the edge.

I'm on top of the door. Yes, I'm Batman.

The 5-year old just skied 10,000 feet of backcountry.

We're listening to sheep farmers care for a thousand sheep.

Watching. Looking for Mama. Get that baby to his Mom.

Is that real, Grandpa? Josh asks, putting down Batman.

Hey, Junior, we got to find you some milk.

Josh repeats it, and laughs, in his big voice.

What is that? Those are all the Mama's babies?

Did I come out of Mama like that? Was Mama big? Like that tv?

What is that? Testicles? Testicles?

"Below the penis in a sack of skin. Like we have."

Like balls? Exactly. I like this movie.

Dreaming the mothership as a travel school,

there would be no teacher. "Hey, I just told you.

You're a tooting machine." Coco is the sheep dog.

A working dog working. Sadie's job is to get the ball.

"Hey, undercover man, let go of my toes!"

Grandpa, when I get old, I'll have a soft spot of skin just like you.

Setting up camp, sheepherders complain like soldiers,

talking like them. I wince knowing Josh's love

for the colorful word. My knee hurts. My dog won't leave camp.

My horse is rib and bones. My knee clicks.

Sheep are walking off cliffs and there's bears.

Cell phones in sheep camp hear us crying out.

Like prayers in the Hebrew Bible.

Josh asks who my Mom is.

He asks who's Grandma's mom.

I say a short prayer for both of us.

He's asleep when bears get shot coming into camp.

Into Sheep Camp. Into High Forest Camp.

Into the Mothership, a DreamTent away,

out of wind, a place to ski to, another word for home.

Jim Bodeen

19 February 2011

SAMMIE SAYS

We beat the moon to Grandma's house.

Jim Bodeen

19 February 2011

JOSH SKIS 8000 FEET FOR MS

"Do you want me to show you
a waterfall?" he asks. "Follow me,"
a 5-year old taking off on skis.
"Oh, Wow!"
he exclaims before water
falling into ice from snow,
in a snow fall, giving his heart
once more falling into wonder.

Jim Bodeen
16 February 2011

PRAYER FOR MY CHILDREN

--for Leah, Krista, & Tim

May the swim in these waters
be my spirituality and not yours.

May the edges of my skis
be sharp enough to separate us.

May the mountains given us
by the Creator give us all safe passage,

with equally difficult ascents.
May the dangers in descending

be matched with unerring practicality
and wild, wild stories that sustain.

Jim Bodeen
15 February 2011

Tim Bodeen says, "In Zen, you drop off all the stuff you don’t need--

your worries, fears, opinions, preconceptions, attachments
because you really don’t need them!" Photo in car by Tim Bodeen

THE REVERENT WAY SEEKS ITS OPTIONS

You can't say it all
Find many ways to not say
Native as one can

Jim Bodeen
14 January 2011


TOUCH TAKES THE PLACE OF LANGUAGE

O God-In-The-Knuckle, this is the ritual of the public hour covered by fresh snow. This is the story of children turning into fish. This is my mother curling into my arms disappearing. When the kids say, "Tell me that story again, Grandpa," I tell it again.

Jim Bodeen
January, 2011