Cloudbank 19

Not More Than A Mile From Old Faithful by Bill Rector is the winner of the Cloudbank 19 Prize, which comes with a $200 prize.

Not More Than A Mile From Old Faithful / Bill Rector

I like a taste of Thoreau now and then. But I find I’m still hungry when I finish reading him. Thoreau’s mom was famous for her pies. Blackberry, raspberry, gooseberry. Honey, she’d say, wringing her hands, you’re so thin. Quit eating twigs. Leave the pies, Ma, Thoreau would bark. Can’t you see I’m writing? 

A grizzly bear’s head is like an ottoman with a furry snout and a ravenous grin. Had there been an easy chair in the woods, I could have rested my head on a log and put my dogs on an ursine noggin. Read Walden until I drowsed off again at those famous words that begin page ten . . .  bravery of mink and muskrats. . . 

A woman in a mink stole says donuts are as American as apple pie, adding that a man should never buy a dozen sugar donuts with cream filling. A small head with glassy eyes and sharp teeth eyes me hungrily. But if he does, he must eat them all, including the holes, and stuff the bag in a trash can with a bear-proof lid.

Curl into a ball if you happen upon a grizzly bear with cubs, a notice at the trailhead cautions hikers about to set out. If Mom charges, jump up and down, shout, and wave your arms. Make her think you’re larger than you are. Don’t squirt yourself with the pepper spray! Too late! Drop the bag of donuts and run.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. Well, not all of them. In the Break Room behind the Nature Center, down the hall from the closet where the nature books and bear suits are kept, well-rounded park rangers with cream and sugar on their lips are wiping tears from their eyes and laughing their fool heads off.

Poets and Writers in Cloudbank 19

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