marichiko

Songline for Wolf Creek Pass

You'll know you're almost home
when you reach that pull-out on the road
the one where you put your chains on -
or take them off.
The Rio Grande is just a creek here,
head waters 90 degree angles due west
at the Continental Divide.
Big up country starts Now!

Gear down here and begin to gather speed.
Consider the laws of classical physics
Force = mass x acceleration
Vectors becomes a calculus of place.
And in those days the road was narrow -
two lanes, no guard rails.

Up ahead now, there's a semi going far too slow
And I have a record to break
Besides I never had any use for brakes.
In the mountains, use your gears.
Don't brake going up.
Don't burn out going down.

Swing out and around,
tires skittering near edge
Sharp curve,
1,000 foot drop off!
Pay it no mind
Fear would have you look over the edge
stand on the brakes,
go out of control
skid over and down.

Drive through the fear.
and keep your eyes where you want the tires to go.
You are staying on the road!
Then swing back in
smooth and easy.

It was a riff done by girl and car,
road and mountain.
The trucker flashes his lights -
On Off!
On Off !
- twice in admiration!
I lift one hand from the wheel,
turn and blow him a kiss.
But the road claimed my attention like a jealous lover.

You learn to respect the Pass
listen to its demands
after 7 years of travel -
sometimes in winter blizzards,
sometimes in sudden wash-outs of summer rain.
And don't forget the occasional avalanche
thrown in just to see if you are paying attention.
Wolf Creek always has its moods
and so do I.

Today I am in love
with this road,
these mountains, these Spring wildflowers,
which have come out just for me,
watching as I take those sharp turns
effortlessly - flying,
accelerating into the curves,
my small Suburu hugging the road tight
like that lover
returning home
after a long absence.

Two days later sitting in the faculty lounge,
I'll boast to a friend -
A fellow poet and a philosopher,
but most of all my main competition
in a serious contest -
Who could drive Wolf Creek the best!

"Did the entire pass averaging 50 mph,"
I'd say casually.
He set his coffee cup down with a sound
like a guantlet being flung.
"Prove it!"
So I did.
Took a long drag on my cigarette and said
"Let's go!"

A couple of college teachers cutting class
on a warm spring day
leaving our students behind like shadows
in empty class rooms.

My friend had given me the music for Wolf Creek,
Jean Luc Ponty's incredible jazz violin.
It happened to be in my cassette deck
that day I drove the Wolf Creek invitational.
I hope in return I gave him good company,
talking poetry and the philosophy of road advisories;
dragging the main strip -
Highway 160 between Pagosa Springs and South Fork,
showing off how well we belonged there.

The real kids behind us
would return to the city,
in search of better things.
We'd already found them,
topping the summit of that pass.
Wolf Creek!
Elevation 10,640 feet
Chain law
No longer in effect!