January, Above the Clouds

January, Above the Clouds (I.13.2009) [click photo for next . . . ]
On the road in the American Northwest.


BOOTMAKER

for Gary Johansen

Long after the dust and hubbub

of mechanical motion settle to the ground,

and cars and trucks and snowmachines

are out of fashion

or out of gas,

the humble bootmaker

will still be bent over

his worktable,

stitching together the soles

that allow us to do what

we do best: walk.

Without his art, how would

we climb up into the clear, lighter air,

just below heaven, above the clouds,

where we can see over the top of daily life's rancor?

I may think I climb solo, but no:

good beginnings are more than half the ascent,

and the beginning of each climb

is prepared and secured,

hammered and glued, by the bootmaker's craft.

I celebrate his work, which gives us these

coverings for tender feet in a harsh world

that are made to last.


Stonepine Overlook,
Eagle Cap Wilderness,
I.19.2009





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S-curve,
Winter
Track
Above
the
Clouds
Evening
Textures
Cornucopia
Group,
evening light





All Photographs & texts by Cliff Crego © 2011 picture-poems.com
(created: I.26.2009)