Gary Snyder

Audio Player



from Logging

"Lodgepole Pine: the wonderful reproductive
power of this species on areas over which its
stand has been killed by fire is dependent upon
the ability of the closed cones to endure a fire
which kills the tree without injuring its seed.
After fire, the cones open and shed their seeds
on the bared ground and a new growth springs up."

Stood straight
                     holding the choker high
As the Cat swung back the arch
                     piss-firs falling,
Limbs snapping on the tin hat
                     bright D caught on
Swinging butt-hooks
                     ringing against cold steel.

Hsu Fang lived on leeks and pumpkins.
Goosefoot,
          wild herbs,
                     fields lying fallow!

But it's hard to farm
Between the stumps:
The cows get thin, the milk tastes funny,
The kids grow up and go to college
They don't come back
                     the little fir trees do

                     Rocks the same blue as sky
Only icefields, a mile up,
                          are the mountain
Hovering over ten thousand acres
Of young fir.