SageGreenJournal.org

voices out of the West, mostly poetry, personal to planetary

Wayne Merry's name is familiar to anyone who knows the history of American rock climbing, and its Mecca, Yosemite Valley. A pioneer climber in what we now think of as the golden age of Yosemite climbing, Wayne was one of the team that made the first ascent of the Nose of El Capitan. In later years Wayne has opted for a quieter but equally powerful wilderness environment and has long lived on the shores of a beautiful Atlin Lake in British Columbia.

He's found his poetic medium in an English-language version of linked Tankas, a traditional Japanese verse form.

aspen’s gold has flown

 greyness owns all earth and sky

we long for light

snow can not come soon enough

 white will light our world again

dark limbs wave helpless

 arguing with icy wind

pull the chair closer

pine chunks crackle in the stove

 stretch toward the sun’s old warmth

hard frost furs the roof

 north breeze hurries mist southward

I blink sleep away

 savoring rich coffee scent

 planning now for coming snow

the first flakes drift in

 perch on the deck and cling there

we dig in the closet

 wool and fleece are warm to touch

 down can wait for sharper cold