This time last year I was in Alaska visiting a family friend who is also a fabulous kayak guide. For a change of pace, here is one of my poems from the trip. These are actual names of climbing routes. The poem is also found in my book, Inner Sunset.

Frozen Waterfall Climbing Routes in South Central Alaska

Son of Khan, Bottom Feeder,
Genghis—Flame Out.
No Cigar for the Ptarmigan Couloir
or Death Lizard, but a Mutiny at the Iron Curtain,
Yellow Fever, the BackWash
became The Lunar Landing —
a 3-Ring Circus.

Fate Is A Hunter, Dirty Harry, Mad Dog,
a Fistful of Snargs, and Vice Gripped
by a Tall Man and an Urban PlowBoy.

Sand Castles of a Dog Day, give
Tunnel Vision, then SkyView
of the Rainbow Bridge. It’s all a Skin Game,
Touch and Go to Organ Pipes
then Walk In The Woods and Pinwheel
on a Blue Ribbon Ripple of Indecision.
FishRack Traverse Blue Funk
to LineUp on the Spruce Pitch,
turn a Baby Face of Death Valley Daze
to RipTide
and Serenity Falls.