of vacation, of work

returning to school

a week of opening doors to the wonders inherent in

the Tetons, the Big Horn Basin and Mountains,

the Beartooth, Yellowstone,






a week of writing chunks of what 

I feel the days have revealed to me:

of a heron, an eagle, elk, bear, moose,

of petroglyphs and Native Americans,



of peak and flower

 and snow-melt
racing and roaring back to the sea,

of pushing body and spirit to do to hike,

to find the photos that can hold a bit 

of how exquisite the moment is,

I feel far enough into the vacation

that I am clear enough inside

to remember my students

and how I feel the structures of our school work

and how they are not all there yet,

in a week I’ll be back home, God willing,

and it’s exciting what can come with each new dawn here,

and each new dawn back home.

by Henry H. Walker

June 24, ’13