flood | nichepoetryandprose

poetry and prose about place

Posts Tagged ‘flood’

floodwaters

This time of year, along the St. John River, we watch for floodwaters. For some, whose homes may be threatened by the flood, this means worry. For others, it means a road along the river may be closed until the waters recede. For me, it is a time to watch for the return of the Canada Geese. It is also a time to see what interesting cargo the floodwaters carry.

All along the river, there will be huge wheels of root… the remains of trees ripped from the river’s banks and carried along with the floodwaters. These ‘root wheels’ come to rest on the river’s edges, stranded by the falling waters. Washed clean of the soil, the roots show us the underpinnings of the trees and reveal what goes on beneath the ground, where we ordinarily cannot see.

Windthrow

another scar

in the clearcut

one crooked pine

left sentinel

to watch shoots and brambles

scramble for sun

wind thrown in silence

(no ears to hear)

seedlings

patted in by Boy Scouts

crushed

roots and fibre, exposed

clots of clay

dripping rock, wounded

rootlets, oozing sap

overturned war wagon

mighty axle, broken

wheel of matted roots, still

spinning, earth upended

a crater dug in regolith

a new shelter

from the wind, rain

sprouting seeds

in mineral

and fallen leaves

Published as: ‘Windthrow’, The Cormorant XI (1): 100 (Fall 94)

© Jane Tims 1994

Written by jane tims

April 2, 2012 at 6:23 am

Posted in along the shore, waterways

Tagged with flood, flotsam, nature, poetry, root wheel, St. John River, water

pitfalls

with 4 comments

If the space you occupy, your niche, has benefits to nourish, lift and sustain you, it also has its pitfalls, its dangers. Animals know this and their adaptations to their habitat are as much about avoiding danger as they are about obtaining food or shelter.

Think about the Groundhog family in the grey woods behind our house (see post ‘the location of our picnic table‘ August 20,2011, category ‘wild life’). The Groundhog’s tunnels are designed to provide shelter and food storage, but they are also designed for checking out the enemy and for quick escape.

Like the Groundhog, I try to prepare for the pitfalls. I have an emergency kit, including water and a flashlight, ready for severe storms, unexpected floods, and power outages. In spite of this, when our basement was flooded last December, I found I was poorly prepared and all I could do was concentrate on the small steps toward return to normalcy.

The path through the grey woods has its own pitfalls. When I go for walks I have to beware of fallen trees…