historic marker
This poem first appeared in the Winter 1975-76 version of Poetry Northwest.
it was here in mid-winter
they paused to ask each
other the waythe trail
behind filling with snow
that broken treeavalanche
killdo you remember
late summerwe saw
the break up twenty feet
now here at eye leveldeep
snowbring that day back
speakare we here
it was here they built a fire
warmed their hands and faces
until the embers sank
hissed deep in the tunnel
of smokehere they turned
to look back with the wind
find their tracks nearly gone
then set out uphillthe people
crossing the mountains to find
bitterroot hidden one wealthy day
in a cave on the other side
and here where the wind
slowed just below the summit
they paused to tap out a
song with stiff knuckles
at the base of the last cliff
we are herehungry children
mountain forgetwe will remember
wind forgetfill our trail
we will rememberavalanche
be patientwe will disappear
without your help
it is heredriverthe signs
plastered with snow forget
their namesbut you know
the road is endless either way
your car in its brief life
will never failthe radio
sings what your money can buy
but driverrecall how here
they pausedteeth chattering
a brief prayernear where
you kneel in the snow
to put on your chains
—
Kim Stafford is Emeritus Professor at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. He writes, teaches, and travels to raise the human spirit through poetry. In 1986, he founded the Northwest Writing Institute, and he has published a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Muses Among Us: Eloquent Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer’s Craft and 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared. His most recent book is the poetry collection Singer Come from Afar (Red Hen Press). He has taught writing in dozens of schools and community centers, and in Scotland, Italy, Mexico, and Bhutan. In 2018 he was named Oregon’s 9th Poet Laureate for a two-year term.