Klatchie Peak Dream Camp

KLATCHIE PEAK DREAM CAMP WITHOUT KAREN

The big thing in the tent’s that

I keep thinking Karen’s here with me

and she’s not. I keep wanting

to talk with her and she’s not here.

It’s spooky in this notebook alone.

There are stars, and there is Karen.

But she isn’t with me.

I can't reach her.

This happens again and again.

Sometimes the stars have moved.

The sun has not yet

come up over Mt. Rainier.

My Hubba one-man tent

has a white hat

without its rain fly.

I walk out to the trail

and take a picture of the Mountain

but Karen’s not in it.

My tent is surrounded

by High Mountain Hemlock

and only Karen

could know what that means—

they get their bark

when they’re 100 years old.

Karen is the ruby

in Rumi’s Mathnawi.

This Mountain’s beauty

is what I come for

but the gift of beauty

comes from Karen.

From my head to my foot

I have become you

like Rumi says,

Nothing remains of me

but my name. I am a stone

on its way. Before you,

Karen, I was my own enemy.

I reach for you in the tent

and you’re not here. As the sun

prepares to come

over the Mountain

the wind comes up.

Wind helps me work

on the stone, self-existence

finally disappearing.

Jim Bodeen

26 August—14 October 2015

Wonderland Trail-Sundance Camp