Mending Boundaries

July 25, 2022 ~ Kenneth P. Gurney ~ 1 Comment

Thor stood before Paul.
Lori, Delphi and myself a few steps behind him.

This occurred on the mountain at the tree line
as Paul claimed it happened before.

Thor did not wear the Marvel Hero outfit
but a cowboy hat, bandanna

faded patched jeans
and boots with more miles than leather.

Thor’s hammer was there—
put to the task of mending fence.

Shiny barbwire replaced
broken rusted barbwire.

The summer cows gave us room.
Black bears liked to poke their noses

out of the tree line
to gaze at Thor working.

Thursday

November 25, 2021 ~ Kenneth P. Gurney ~ Leave a comment

I stood on a longboat.
A pretend viking sporting a mohawk.

The oars dipped into Lake Erie.
Strong backs at work.

Meteorologists predicted the fog to lift.
It did not lift.

To a degree we were irrelevant.
Our identities remained inconsistent.

We shifted through time. Past to present.
Present to past.

We made up new names
for our godly pantheon.

We made up betrayals
to focus our energies.

The foghorn moved
from front to side to back.

I have no memory
of how I earned the name Thor.

I think my shipmates
learned I was born on Thursday.

But it could be that I
cloaked the ship in fog.

Thor

November 24, 2020 ~ Kenneth P. Gurney ~ Leave a comment

We met in an aspen grove.
You came from the mountain top
to meet me.
We were near the tree line.
The sun got under our skin.
The wind picked up
and the air cooled quickly.
The sun hid behind
a newly arrived cloud.
The cloud was crow-dark.
You lifted your smoking hand.
The leaves browned as you passed.
The aspen trunk you touched
burst into flame
simultaneously with thunder
that knocked me down.
The trunk split ground to bough.
You whistled to the cloud.
The cloud replied with cold rain.
Heavy shot-glass drops.
My head felt their blows.
My nose bled.
My ears rang for days.

postscript

A few times in my life hiking above ten-thousand feet in the mountains, I have been caught by thunderstorms. Foolishness on my part not paying enough attention to weather forecasts or thinking I could get up the mountain and back with time to spare. It is quite the experience. Both terrifying and glorious.