Stonebreak Flowforms, Pine Lakes, Eagle Cap Wilderness
On the road in the American Northwest. [click photo for next . . . ]

THE POOL OF LIFE
—a prose poem meditation

The bite of a trout breaks the surface of the water's
morning calm . . .

Small fish are protected by their lightning-fast speed;
Large, by their greater weight and water-wise ways.
But neither is safe from the folly of the farmer's
banker as he in his thirst unquenchable taps off the
last drops of the pool's water.

O round pool of an alpine tarn, waves resonating,
ringing out into the distance. Who is to say where
they stop? See the subtle society of their merging,
their complex composite forms.

Some cultures just rush right by, so full of fear are
they that the banker will lock his doors forever before
they can make a final run on their cash. Others, give
the reading of such waves their complete and utmost
attention, protecting the quiet waters upon which they
are composed from interferences undue.

As the autumn morning shades into afternoon, a lone
golden eagle turns wide, soaring gyres above the pool,
first sun-wise, then widershens. I lay back on the soft
heather tundra and remember images from the past.
"Sempre solo, tutti cresti!" says the proud Italian mountain
farmer. Not far away, a man came out of the time-warp
of glacier ice, Ötzi, more than five thousand years old,
with boots—see the miracle!—made of four different
kinds of leather and a layer of matted straw for warmth.

Who is to say . . . Out of the ice . . .

Perhaps that is all we are. Just patterns of waves,
and mostly water.

Broken Bridge Camp,
Eagle Cap Wilderness,
Oregon, X.29.2008

| download mp3 POOL OF LIFE 5.2 Mb] |
[the birds heard in background are a group of
Clark's Nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana);
Notice the complex patterns of counter singing. |


THE LITTLE CLAVIER please preview 150 of 631 pages
w/ my black & white photography [open in new window]

Please visit my picture-poems.com MOUNTAIN WATER
print gallery. Above is a set of about 60 recent images.
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I might just mention here, following the simple ethical principle,
First, do no harm, that I never use cars or trucks or snowmachines.
Instead, I do everything on foot, or bike or ski. I think this in a
direct way affects my work, and deeply affects how I see
the world. So all the photos above were approached
on foot—including all the 'in between spaces,' sometimes
involving journeys of weeks or months.

I would not want to work any other way.

All Photographs & texts by Cliff Crego © 2011 picture-poems.com
(created: XI.10.2008)