In recognition of Poetry Month, and to celebrate and highlight our treasure trove of Orcas Island poets, Orcas Issues is pleased and honored to again offer daily poetry during April.
The Lookout
— Monica Kezar —
Hozameen, Hozameen, most beautiful mountain
I ever seen.
–Jack Kerouac
He stands in the shelter looking north.
Hozameen blanketed under dense cloud.
The mountain searching for the sun.
Sleepyeyed.
He needs black coffee.
No sidewalk cafe here.
All is hushed. Vacant.
All stark as the void.
Just another platitude?
Just another dream?
He fights the urge to free himself.
Striving to empty his consciousness
of the Dharma Bum lifestyle,
like the ant who
duels with the angels.
Free from the choking darkness
A back door opens
to the rush of silence.
Reality a thin foreign shadow
migrating from cloud to cloud.
Oh, Hozameen, free me from
this strangling vortex.
There’s something mystical about this poem. Had to look up Hozameen Mountain and see its images, its formidable faces, its place and presence in the lives of the Salish People. Thank you for drawing me in with this poem to want to know more about Hozameen (and Kerouac’s Dharma Bums.) There’s always so much packed into your poems.