I’m tracking six eagles soaring high above, wondering why they have made an appearance. I learned recently that eagles are scavengers as well as predators and so that circling, like vultures, can indicate the presence of death and decay, as in my poem My Mountain below. (Roderick does a stellar job of narrating this piece on Princes Nut.) My bird feeder is such a popular spot I am topping it up every day now. Sometimes and with a guilty conscience, I will chase off the band-tailed pigeons. They are huge and come in droves.

Just as were recovering from an attack on our mail server by a Russian spammer my hubby’s back went out, spazzming as he puts it, for the first time in a over a year. I had succumbed to a rotten cold after several long weeks of allergy afflictions. Great timing. It was our first weekend alone together in months and we were both screwed up. So I blew my nose a lot, did what work I could and he kept moving or stood around most of the time as it was impossible to sit. Sitting too much-rather an occupational hazard for a computer programmer-is hard on the back. Consequently Mothers Day sucked, said he was going to make me breakfast but since we couldn’t dine together I said forget it, go nurse your back. Junior was at his father’s. Honestly I don’t expect much but no card, no flowers, no gift. Nada. Feel like going on strike.

Preparing for the launch of course, bought a Facebook ad and sent out press releases via the Vancouver Alliance for Arts & Culture E-Net. Pam Southwell of RPW Records is on it too so I hope we get a good turnout and some press. Will put some posters up on Bowen and the ferry soon. Have to think of the timing. Too early and people forget about it, too late and they don’t have time to pencil it into their busy social calendars. Two weeks I figure is the best window and one publication mentioned ten days. Tossing ideas around with emcee Kyle Hawke, asked him to wear something grandiose like a tux or tails. As he says, that might be too over the top if it doesn’t connect with anything else. He wants to adopt a persona that fits, mentioned Maurice Chevalier or a lounge look-smoking jacket, undone bow tie, cigarette in holder and suggested a cigarette girl to hand out promotion, sell merch. Sounds like fun and Kyle always has great ideas.
Still flogging my Window Seat manuscript as much as possible. It’s hard to fit in between the domestic and AURAL Heather fronts. Speaking more of the domestic front, my boy succumbed as well, after an equally vexing period of allergy madness which involved numerous visits to various doctors, specialists and naturopaths one of whom may possibly turn out to be helpful. The GP diagnosed him with a sinus infection though and prescribed antibiotics so we will do that first and then see how he feels. If the allergies are still a big issue, I will take him back to see said naturopath. At the same time, we’ve been struggling with ASD issues. We tried neurofeedback for several months and after conferring with his teachers, have decided it has had little or no effect. In the fall, he will work again with the nurse trained in RDI, to work on social interactions. She has been unavailable due to her own son’s needs. She has four children, including triplets! I will have to go away by myself for a week I think, to get any serious new writing accomplished. When I finally get the AURAL Heather tour nailed down, perhaps I can schedule in a week up at Whistler.

Finally managed a meeting with my webmaster John Dowler of Cosmic Idea to discuss much-needed a re-design. It has looked the same way for far too long. We will base a new look on Tina Schliessler’s phainting-Princess Nut cover image, incorporate the colours to create a palette/motif throughout the site. I’m excited and anxiously awaiting to see what he comes up with, says he will send along a design tonight. We are streamlining content, installing a music player, adding a Visible Verse page so I can broadcast the call for entries and most of the rest just involves moving content over from the original site. I need to cruise through and decide what to keep, what to toss, what to archive, update to current poetry samples and write any new pages.

My Mountain

Cardinal rule breaker, slackpacking ultramontane
hiking your own hike. Hope you bend
instead of snap, packed your vitamin I, wool socks.
Iinformed no one of your plan, if you had one.
Twilight fell, a thump obscuring the path.
Started too too late, didn’t you?
Got all confused and shit.
Yeah it was nice out. We have weather,
weather that turns. Time to return, want to return.
Must be quivering in shadows the colour of blue rice paper.
Forget grizzlies, elements do all the devouring.
Could no longer see your imaginary crumbs. The horizon?
Mountainsides confound alright, clad in fir, cedar, hemlock,
rich under-storey of shrubs, lady ferns, sorrel—dark purple,
hairy berries edible—good to know when the Power Bars run out.
You have mountains back in Missouri? This Grouse mountain—
though I’ve never seen one up there—is well-trodden,
for good reason. Scorned The Grind, wimpy climb like that
beneath you. Extreme dude. Edgewise risk taker. Hard ass.
Still a tourist far as I’m concerned. Unprepared, unfamiliar
with my mountain. Does it care you’re far from home?
I do. This is heavy rain, man. You are going to lose.
Body heat first. You are like me. Ambitious. Misguided.
Arrogant. My mountain. It’s beaten me. For the first time.
A bite of humble pie might have saved
your sorry ass if not the SAR team.
Can’t you hear the goddamn SAR team? 400 volunteers,
searching in shifts. Tracking dogs. Helicopters equipped
with forward-looking-infrared-radar, seeking your heat signature.
Did you lose the trail? Fall down a concealed drop-off? Face plant
in a ravine, become unconscious only to wake with a broken leg?
Are you crawling knee high to a rotten stump?
Or already dead, succumbed to hypothermia?
Day 28 I notice an eagle circling. Nothing noble there.
Hope you ended up on a higher plane,
you soaring spirit dumb ass Darwin award nominee.