Planetary Stories Project

"To Act Globally, Think Locally – Through Stories"

Black Earth Institute

Place: the Skagit River, WA, USA

Upriver, the Skagit
By Judith Roche

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Upriver, the Skagit

Here swiftly,
amid broken boulders
house-sized and strewn
far below the high cascade
descending almost from heaven,
amid the swirl and rush of water
dashing down and filling
the scatter of river-gouged pools–
broken necklace of moonstones
frothing at my feet– terraced
between brimming
turbulence of tumbled stone
slung from who-knows-where–
Anchorage, the Arctic–
volcanic events of rocks
unstrung and exploding
in the abyss
before beginnings,
before we had names,
to hesitate only briefly
in this watershed–
a moment on tiptoe
of geological time–
before clattering on
and the water rushing
down down down.