Thursday, November 15, 2007

Chair Lift

[a poem inspired by the Totally Optional Prompt, "Places"]



Chair Lift


Pines wear white caps,
and snowy stoles draped on branches,
while naked maple limbs
sparkle with icy glitter.
The light is dazzling
through my dark goggles.
Even the cold air I breathe
is bright with inner radiance,
filling me with buoyancy.

My first ride up
is rarely like that,
my muscles stiff,
full of kinks and crankiness
lodged in my corners
after a night spent
in a borrowed bed,
and the oh-so-possible
probability
of being the slowest one
in the group.

But the next ride up,
having outpaced doubt,
and run off the rust,
with endorphins pumping
me full of ease,
could last twice as long
and maybe it does.
My shoulders and brain relax
even as I pull
the turtle-fur over my nose
and zip up the crackling parka,
much louder in the deep cold,
than on a milder day.

I float up the mountain
weightless as a paper airplane,
suspended above scratchy skis
on icy slopes,
my office-bound eyes freed
to drink in this mountain
and the next one over.
I sit in the moment
and delight
in a fine excuse
to spend the whole day
outside.




16 comments:

Deb said...

I can smell the cold air...I particularly liked " run off the rust" and how sound figures. So true how those jackets rustle louder. Sound bounces off the cold snow.

sister AE said...

Thanks, deb. Glad I could take you there.

paisley said...

for one that has never skied this was truly an adventure... i loved it....

Crafty Green Poet said...

well thats how to do it, I've only ever tried ski-ing on an artificial slope, which is not the same at all. Thanks for sharing.

Jo said...

The last two stanzas are wonderful! A great read.

Rethabile said...

Your poem makes skiing likable to skiophobes like myself. Good job.

Pauline said...

" float up the mountain
weightless as a paper airplane,"

Love those lines!

gautami tripathy said...

"My shoulders and brain relax
even as I pull
the turtle-fur over my nose
and zip up the crackling parka,
much louder in the deep cold,
than on a milder day."

I can feel that...

sister AE said...

Hello, Paisley and Juliet. At least it is how to ride the chair lift up.

Thanks, Jo. I'm glad you like it.

Hi, Rethabile and Pauline. Thanks!

Hello, Gautami. If I can send a snowy day all the way to India, I have done OK, no?

wendy said...

I'm always the slowest...but I get to enjoy the scenery..

very crystal clear place.

Tumblewords: said...

Ah, the beauty and the personal in a lovely combination. Nice work!

sister AE said...

Wendy - HA! I love it. And thanks. I am 10 years older the the folks I ski with. It is probably only that (and has nothing to do with me being out of shape - don't you think?)

Thanks, tumblewords.

Linda Jacobs said...

I have been here so many times! You captured it perfectly! ~Linda

sister AE said...

Thanks, Linda!

Andy Sewina said...

I like the way you wrote this -
it really focus's on the place!
Also the last verse could be a stand alone poem.

sister AE said...

Thanks, aka Danny. I picked a place I could see clearly in my mind, in hopes that I would find ways to "show" it to others.

I agree on the last stanza. I also debated leaving off the first four lines. They were originally in the middle, and I cut them from there, but couldn't quite bear to let them go. A future re-write might find those in a different poem instead.