In the mountains he arrives suddenly—
a slab of rock drops from the bluffs north of
Coffee Creek making you one with the cab of your truck.
Or a mudslide or avalanche, sounding
like an approaching train, sweeps you from its
track. With luck your body resurfaces late in the summer.
Or you reach to change radio stations
at the wrong curve […]
Though usually indiscriminate raiders
of valley gardens, fruit trees, and black-
berry slopes, the bears shun this ancient,
twisted apple tree beside the road. All winter
unmauled offerings sway from its branches,
the sourness so legendary even the earth
refuses its windfalls. But for us, colour-
starved in a white season, it offers a sweet
and generous gift—kindly keeping, beneath
their lids of snow, […]
