By Frank Keim

Thinking back…
deep
into the heart of these arctic mountains
known today as the Brooks Range,
I remember
the long windy solitude of the valley,
where gray river cobbles collide
with a braided maze of ancient caribou trails,
and pink fireweed blossoms brush
the wide antlers of a bull moose
browsing nonchalantly
below
me,
as I clamber up to the tip of the tail
of the great whale mountain
I followed for so many days,
breathing the rich perfume
of wild rhododendron
and purple lupine
washing down the brawny shoulders
of high peaks and ridges
above this valley,
where only grizzlies growl
and dig for parky squirrels
and bear root,
and every now and then
stop for one tense moment
to stare
at my sudden blunt presence here
in the valley they call
Fire.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Frank is an educator, nature writer and environmental activist. He worked for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia, as an anthropologist in Ecuador for four years, and as a secondary school teacher of Yup’ik Eskimos in Alaska’s Lower Yukon Delta for 21 years. He has published three poetry books, Voices on the Wind (2011), Today I Caught Your Spirit (2014), and Trails Taken…so many still to take… (2018). In 2012 he published White Water Blue, Paddling and Trekking Alaska’s Wild Rivers and in 2020 he published Down Alaska’s Wild Rivers. He lives north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

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