it
can take decades
to
write it down
gestate
maybe
even irony has a place in this
the
greyhound bus lines began
in
hibbing minnesota in 1914
i
took a one-way greyhound
leaving
the iron range
from
hibbing in 1991
with
a backpack
and
a boxed-up bicycle
scores
of towns & stops
before
nyc
and
then jfk airport
and
then israel
but
this isn't about that
but
about the act of leaving
the
beginning of summer
coming
on strong
drying
up the low lands a bit
the first real heat
bicycling
itasca county 8
the
boys bravely keeping up
with
the 'club' ride
the
new sprouts
on
both sides of the road
though
my eyes looked
straight
and immediate
separating
from my sons
the
twins graduating from high school
the
two older ones off to college
our
futures were destined
for
many directions
the
hundred pine seedlings dying
in
the front field
a
few weeks late
in
the planting
still
glad we tried
on
the way out
a
last go around
at
nashwauk high school & track
where
frozen spring begins
with
a pounding on your feet
and
then on to hibbing
past
the library and high school
it'll
always be zimmerman's high school
in
the distance
the
mines & stacks
of
the taconite plant
brothers
& sisters
keeping
on
it'll
always be north country blues
with
every blue lake
the
thaw is only temporary
gouged
out red rock piles
transitory
every
white birch bark peeling
deep
green tamarack
aiming
straight for the northern lights
remembering
when my eyes
first
crossed sight
with
a gray wolf
a
fly over of geese
letting
us all know
there
comes a path
and
a time
---
e b bortz
