Cathance River
Barred owl
10/29/2016
RUSTLE OF DRY LEAVES
walking the path
down to the river
crash of pine branches
startled
a big bird flies off
turkey or spruce grouse
oh — wow — an owl
eyes black as coal
alights on pine
large and stocky
rounded head
no ear tufts
mottled brown wings
white breast
vertical brown bars
ah, then, a barred owl
swamp owl
hoot owl
eight hooter
wood owl
rain owl
le chat-huant du Nord
(hooting cat of the North)
sit down
watching
waiting
to see
what
comes next
owl stares back
as curious about me
as I am about it
head turns
looks behind
slow turns back
no fear
holding the gaze
one minute,
two, three
time slows until
a whisper of feathers
owl flies off
ghost flight
into the woods
rustle of dry leaves
walking the path
down to the river
To the headwaters
11/21/2012
Paddling to the headwaters
sounds easy enough
yet river’s source
turns out to be
two branch streams
entering a pond
I thought to be
THE headwaters
tiny rivulets
the source
of all that water?
hard to imagine
at river’s
wide mouth
and so,
the Cathance
crooked river
empties
Bradley Pond
… and yet
two streams
fill the pond
one ‘Eastern’
the other ‘Western’
both ‘Cathance’
squiggles
on a map
too shallow
to paddle
all this
came later
map-gazing
to see
where
a beaver dam
-- fallen branches
ridge of rock
blocks
further
passage
upriver --
might be
in relation to
wherever
my
upriver
sojourn
stopped
turned back
floating
downstream
to its beginning
Route 201 bridge
over the Cathance
river swollen
Hurricane Sandy
three days of rain
checking first
a safe place
to put in
beneath the bridge
a campfire
someone homeless?
or teenagers
drinking beers
French-kissing
hoping to score?
push off
the bank
sliding
backwards
into
flowing
river
current
takes me
down river
ah, how nice
the feeling,
go with the flow
-- but not today
bright sun
blue sky
trees bare
no birds
cloud
reflections
float
downstream
wind ripples
advance
in waves
sun glitters
too
a road
running
parallel
to the river
cars and trucks
burning fuel
another flow
transmission wires
carry electricity
across the land
across the river
another flow
beef cattle grazing
manure smell
some look up
alert
not alarmed
as I paddle
upriver
past Bisson’s Farm
shriveled lily pads
sunken pads
hole-y pads
returning to
mud from
which
white lilies
will rise again
crossbar
CMP lines
electrons flowing
a nest of sticks
osprey?
eagle?
c’ork c’ork
a crow
behind me
some where
unseen
caw caw
overhead
black soaring bird
a hawk?
no a crow
how elegant
seed balls
bent stalks
ready to break
sending seed boats
downriver
flower again
-- or, maybe not
beaver hut
tall as a man
along the shore
how many
trees it took
to make?
outboard
motor-sound
behind me
silver skiff
three hunters
wearing orange
two step ashore
rifles in hand
the other
backs up
heading
downstream
beaver hut
tall as a man
how warm inside?
how many beavers?
lowland
flood plain
cattle resting
rustling
grasses
in the wind
red berries
red bush
gray gnarled
branches
of a large
old tree
turn a corner
then another
river flowing
from its source
bubbling sound
diverging channel
take it …
or no?
small rapids
tree limbs
entwined
blocking
upriver
passage
small opening
but water’s
too deep
to risk
dumping
rest awhile
low clouds
wind sound
no others
seen or heard
other than
bare trees
scrub brush
dying lilies
rustling grasses
river running
through it all
so turn around
float
down
stream
slow
and
easy
paddling
drifting
going
home