Hmmm?


 


B egan noticing, after walking for more than an hour, the forest started looking very familiar. I was certain I’d never before trekked this section of old growth. I had this “feeling” I had. I was curious.

After walking another ten minutes, my sense of familiarity with this part of the forest was increasing. I decided to try an experiment. Making certain it was out of sight, I built a small formation trailside, using some twigs, at the base of a beautiful redwood, that soared into the canopy.

We walked another half hour. I couldn’t shake my suspicion that we were retracing our steps — and there it was, my formation. I called to our guide, “where’re we going, and where the hell are we?” His reply, “crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end.” Damnit, I knew it — we’re lost!

*
rob kistner © 2021

Poetry at: dVerse


 





42 thoughts on “Hmmm?”

  1. …and go round and round and round….

    A tale & a half, Rob. If I ever get stuck in a similar situation, I hope it’s in the same environment. Well done. AND: you always pick the PERFECT vids. I just heard the Supertramp cut this afternoon while cruising with My Beloved Sandra, being in no particular rush to return. Aaaahhhh…thanks!

  2. I love it so much that you add music to your wonderful poems and stories; Norah is one of my favorites.

  3. And as long as the circles you’re walking make a spiral, you are heading in the direction of rebirth, something well worth traveling toward.

    1. I think once is enough for me Shawna. I have the feeling my life energy is going to simply be absorbed back into the cosmic energy pool — at least I hope so.

  4. Rob,
    Funny how our unconscious picks up that feeling of going around in circles long before we consciously acknowledge it. You brought that across beautifully.
    Pax,
    Dora

    1. After having just written the intense psycho-thriller poem “Love’s Requiem” a couple days ago, I am staying away ftom sinister motives for a while Ingrid. I kinds freaked myself out writing that one.

  5. Clever use of the prompt! Did this really happen to you? If so, what a clever thing to do to insure you were not simply going in the proverbial circles! …. except you were!

    1. Thank you Lillian, but only happened in my imagination — although I have bern lost a couple hours in old growth wilderness on Oregon’s Mt. Hood a number of years ago, hiking with my wife Kathy. We found our way out at sunset.

  6. Rob, if you and I are going to get lost in the forest … it may as well be Oregon or Washington! Cheers to getting lost.

  7. Ha… if anything to know that there is no end is a clear sign that the guide doesn’t know the way… just imagine that the next thing he says is: it’s not where we are going that matters but the journey itself.

  8. Love this- a brilliant portrayal of how easily one can become lost if not careful. I’d say the guide had no idea what he was doing. Perhaps we should leave him stranded and depend on instinct. 😀

  9. Rob: putting this comment here…I hope you see it quickly. I read your post for OLN (and it was fascinating)! I was so caught up in it….it could be made into a movie! And then I went to comment and it says the site is closed to comments. Can you check that? I’m sure many will want to comment on it. Just and amazing post!

  10. Life is a circle
    a cycle of green to brown to green
    what we see and see again
    because we missed it the first time.

    I don’t usually respond with a poem but you inspired me.

    1. That is beautiful Ali, and I am honored to have sparked your poetic response. To add a line to your wonderful piece — “or sadly, too late goes unseen”

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