A Cottage Glossary
May 22 2010


My canoe has gunwales, tumblehome
rocker.
And a pocket of waterlogged air
when it flips, turns turtle
swamps.
‘Til the air-lock breaks
with a soft moist “pop”.

Not that gunwales have anything to do
with marine mammals,
or tumblehome, returning late.
And this rocker never plays.

The cottage canoe
is patched red canvas
backless seats,
battered crash-plates.
And cedar ribs
that hurt your knees, kneeling
in rapids, wind, and waves.
Such a simple conveyance
it goes both ways,
pointed at either end.
Perfectly symmetrical.

A way in
to inaccessible places.
A meditation on wilderness.
Small enough
for a single man to carry
past the first portage.
Where speakers fade
outboards can’t travel,
and he crosses over
to a land of enchantment.

And a man makes time
watchfully paddling.