Heart’s Whisper


… “Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” — Gary Snyder


Clackamas River — Oregon

 
~ inspired in part, by Gary Snyder’s “How Poetry Comes to Me” ~

 

Peering over cliff’s edge
into the glass-green stream
down river
from the cascading falls

I watch trout
slide in
then out
of the soft break of a bolder’s shadow

across the stone canyon
cut by this persistence of current
an Osprey alights
treetop

a focused sentinel

measuring the timing
and tactic
of his imagined next meal

drawn by this breathtaking canyon
down the steep stone face
through the White Aspen
Douglas Fir
giant Golden Chinquapin
and Oregon Madrone
I descend

keeping a steady pace
bent-knee’d and cautious

with boot tread
and leather palm
I throttle and steer
through an ample incline
of base gravel

I’m followed
by a fine dusted slide
of clattering pebbles
and dry conifer needles

down down
I come
to a stream-side grass patch

then alertly
hop — rock to rock
‘cross the dance of crystal chill stream
to a small clearing


Pearsony Falls — Oregon

in this wilderness canyon
midst the quiet rush
of the Clackamas waters
the hushed murmur
of breeze
through tall Ponderosa bough
and the ambiance
of living breathing nature

I make camp

here to rest
and meditate
in this sacred realm
of the 4 directions
mesmerized by this eden


Vale’s Bend, Clackamas River — Oregon

an unburdening begins
in commune with the 4 elements

with the forested earth
the brisk mountain air
the pure clear waters
of glacial melt

and I
have brought the fire



The Narrows, Clackamas River — Oregon

night falls
star-cast and chill

settled by this night’s fire
I sense spirits approaching
carefully

rip’ling ‘cross the crisp white water
hesitant over the moonlit boulders
staying just outside my campfire’s light
just out of clarity

my muse invites them
to come

to join
inside the ring of light

in my heart
I feel words
whispering like a song

I listen openly

carefully

peacefully surrendering
to the inspiration
for which I’ve come

I breath out
a quiet thank you

then I write
as these words
begin falling to my paper

*
rob kistner © 2022

More poetry of the elements at: dVerse

Even more poetry at: dVerse

Friday writings at: Poets & Storytellers

Still more poetry at: earthweal

 


64 thoughts on “Heart’s Whisper”

  4. Your poem took me to a wonderful place, Rob, watching trout and osprey, sitting by a campfire, I didn’t want to come back! And I have learnt something, a Ponderosa is a tree, not a fictional ranch!

    Reply

    1. Maybe we can go back someday Kim, because the actual place is ten fold more beautiful than I was able to feebly portray. Yes, Ponderosa Pine are giant conifer —- they are BIG and beautiful! 🙂

      Reply

  8. This was a spectacular journey of breathtaking scenery and writing. I enjoyed all the references of places and gifts of nature. What a peaceful ending as well, with each element adding to the ambience.

    Reply

      1. Wow! That is a spiritual place. These words very artfully fell onto your paper, glad you were able to bring us along this way. Thank you.

        Pat

        Reply

  10. Thank you for taking us on this beautiful walk and deep meditation Rob. What a magical place this is, so wonderful to carry this within you so you can return here in meditation whenever you wish.

    Reply

  11. Oh my heart this is absolutely gorgeous, Rob! Just gorgeous! I love;
    “quiet rush of the Clackamas waters and the hushed murmur of breeze through tall Ponderosa bough.” Such a joy to read and visualize!

    Reply

    1. Thank you Sanaa! These are the types of places in Oregon I have left my heart, and which my heart’s failing health now makes but memories — but such amazing, beautiful, indelible memories! 🙂

      Reply

  12. Every line is a painting, every word a breath of fresh air. You remain my favorite “nature” poet. Nice tip of the rod to Snyder. He would have loved your work. Like, you, my hiking, fishing, and camping days fade into the past, and you rejuvenate those memories. What you leave out are the mosquitoes and rattlesnakes.

    Reply

    1. Damn Glenn, thank you most sincerely brother — ! To hear you express your belief that Gary would like my work both humbles and honors me my friend. 🙂 I would love to have met him, sat chatting for a bit would have blown my mind — maybe talk a little about his work and his journey into zen consciousness… wow, if only!

      Reply

  13. Rob, you enchanted me with every description and step towards the holy space you describe. I think you know some of who were gathered and waiting for your invitation. Maybe Gary was out there also? I think Tom Robbins lives near that river. Maybe his energy was also floating around. I know I asked you before, but are you planning on taking your grandson there? I truly hope so. Maybe you, your son, and your grandson could do it together? He needs to see this place <3 He will hold it in his heart and think of you.

    Reply

    1. So pleased this touched you Lisa. I felt the spirits of naturalist writers and poets every time I trekked into the wilderness of Oregon, my soul would bloom and my spirit would swoon — as my heart would give thanks in an unspoken prayer. For me it was my church, where I genuinely gave thanks, in awe of all that I saw. I have taken my son into the Oregon wild, and years ago, into the Canadian wild. There we’ve camped, hiked, and fished numerous times. My son and I have an agreement just where my ashes will be spread. So very sadly, my failing health has been a hindrance to my joining my grandson in this manner, in my most special place, but he knows of, and is fascinated, by my profound love of the natural world. It has fallen to my son, his father, to take him into the wild —- eventually to my special place for the spreading of my ashes. It is my greatest heartbreak that I will never be able to personally take him to my spirit place, but he will get there — and he will know his grandfather’s (his PaPa’s) soul.

      Reply

  15. This is gorgeous. I am a passionate bushwalker and really appreciated the sentiment so eloquently shared and the beautiful photos you included. So very different to my Australian home.

    Reply

    1. Thank you Sean. I love the amazing variety of terrain and typography one finds around the globe — though sadly that is slowly shifting as the overlaying climates seem to be changing.

      Reply

  19. The great cleansing…….a hike like that does that….and your poem is imbibed with it….I feel that cleansing while reading…. wonderful stuff Rob mate.

    Reply

  24. I’d like to camp there, pitch a pup tent all by my lonesome. I like the osprey, you know they are always imagining their next meal, like an owl with blood on his mind. A long admirer of Gary Snyder. Good poem for a breathtaking hike.

    Reply

    1. I wish that I still could again Yvonne, but age and failing health, have stolen that enjoyment from my life. I love and admire Gary’s mindset and his work. I share his deep love for the natural world. I met him 8 years ago at Reed College, just outside Portland Oregon. He was 84, and had come back to Reed, where he’d been a student, and later taught. He was there on this occasion to speak of his amazing life and trzvels, and read some of his fine work. It was shortly before my 67th birthday. After his presentation, we had a brief, but wonderful chat — and he signed my copy of his “Cold Mountain Poems” . A memorable moment in my life.

      Reply

  25. What a delight to see an Osprey! There is a mating pair close to where I live, but this year they are on private land so their exact location is a secret…

    Reply

    1. When I was still able to launch and manage my river driftboat to fish, I would see osprey and the Eagles quite often, fishing the same mountain streams & lakes that I was fishing. To watch them spread wide their powerful wings, to lift and fly from the conifer treetops at water’s edge, to slowly soar and scan from overhead, then suddenly dive, wings back, then almost instantly throw their wings out, as if to stop just above the surface, and snatch a trout or lake kokanee with their talons, to then, with several flaps of those mighty wings, soar up again, accelerating off into the sky, was quite utterly thrilling — I never tired of experiencing this amazing spectacle of nature, Ingrid. Both are breathtakingly beautiful raptors — majestic!

      Reply

  26. Rob you write from the heart and the reader can feel your connection and love for nature. This is beautiful…nature is my sanctuary from
    the worries of life.

    Reply

  29. I fell in love with the places you mention here. I lived in Portland
    for 8 years, and I marveled at the surroundings every day.

    Reply

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