Sailing The Queen Charlottes

SAILING THE QUEEN CHARLOTTES

Sailing the Queen Charlottes
our propeller shears
near Mary's harbour.

We overnight
on unsure moorings
safe from the black bears, floating
above a tangled-kelp forests
and a rusting sea plane.

Jack, a wilderness survivor
offers his summer home.

From the boat
it resembles a film set,
perched on limestone caves
in a first-growth forest.

Once in, no path, no sky
beyond his smoke-house
and vegetable patch;
no electricity
just mosquitoes,
tales of wilder times and
Haida Gwaii Indians.

Abalone shells
shining in moonlight
lead the way to hot pools,
volcanic minerals floating us.

We are entering the magic world
of a providential people
who travel easily
between human and animal
the dead and the living.

Jack's children
are strangely shy
and talk.. real .. slow.

Mary's Harbour, British Columbia 2001

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