The Bear

Author’s note: This following piece, “The Bear”, is a terrifying tale. My wife and I love hiking the Oregon wilderness on the edge of which we live. Wildlife is still plentiful in the Cascade Mountains. One must always be cautious. This Pacific Northwest is wild and beautiful, but it is still dangerous.

The Bear
•
BEAR

black

ahead

standing in the switchback

scratching on a cedar

he sees me

stops

drops to all fours

stares

i tense

he still stares

shakes his mass

snorts

chuffs

shakes head

chuffs again

turns

ambles away

i exhale

shake

…

Rob Kistner © 2007

10 thoughts on “The Bear”

  1. Thanks for stopping by the blog- and the website. Been tinkering with it today so it’s nice to know someone stopped by.

  2. You are welcome Ren!

    Thank you for reciprocating, and for your directing me to Audacity.

  3. Dave –

    Thank you for your kind words. Yes, sometimes less is the only way to approach something.

    The spareness of this poem reflects exactly my mindset when this incident occurred. About all I could muster in my mind were single-word thoughts, coming in frozen staccato. I was genuinely frightened — he was only about 60 feet ahead of me.

    I came on him as I rounded a bend. He had to lumber off into the bush to clear my path, and thankfully — he did. I’ll never forget it!

  4. Thank you Marilyn!

    It was a very powerful experience, one I’ll not soon forget.

    Yes, though my shaking was fear and the bear’s was probably mild irritation with me, or shaking in his good scratch. I did want the mirrored image to resonate.

    …Rob

  5. Hi Rob! I love the Bear poem — I’m a big bear fan. I really like how you have both the bear and yourself shaking, and I’m glad the bear ambled away! Have a really nice weekend.

  6. Hi Clare!

    Thanks for the kind words.

    Yes, I’m glad he ambled away as well. It was both a frightening, and an exhilarating encounter. Once in my lifetime is enough.

  7. I did eventually say WOW WOW! However, it took a while for me to say much of anything immediately after the encounter.

    It’s an indelible memory.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *