Mackenzie, B.C., Canada, in Collective Memory
(A crayon sketch by Red Shuttleworth)
Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada, in Collective Memory
Frigid trench in the Rocky Mountains,
instant sawmill town, arteries to a wilderness,
cinder block motel, snow to top single-wides:
you spend a winter trudging wolf trails,
find a moss-covered black bear skull, dip it
repeatedly in shellac: it glows holy-jade.
Your neighbor, a trapper, gives you beaver
and lynx heads, Boiled-off meat is tasty.
The wolfhound refuses cat-stench lynx.
Winter runs-out: a grizzly walks through
a glass door into the cheesy half-mall,
can't find an April-plaid jacket that fits.