from Logging

"Lodgepole Pine: the wonderful reproductive power of this species on areas over which its stand has been killed by fire is dependent upon the ability of the closed cones to endure a fire which kills the tree without injuring its seed. After fire, the cones open and shed their seeds on the bared ground and a new growth springs up."

Stood straight

                     holding the choker high

As the Cat swung back the arch

                     piss-firs falling,

Limbs snapping on the tin hat

                     bright D caught on

Swinging butt-hooks

                     ringing against cold steel.

Hsu Fang lived on leeks and pumpkins.

Goosefoot,

          wild herbs,

                     fields lying fallow!

But it's hard to farm

Between the stumps:

The cows get thin, the milk tastes funny,

The kids grow up and go to college

They don't come back

                     the little fir trees do

                     Rocks the same blue as sky

Only icefields, a mile up,

                          are the mountain

Hovering over ten thousand acres

Of young fir.

作者: 加里·施奈德

from Logging

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