circle poem
Dufton:
Here Jamie and I ended our Pennine Way section hike part three
Part one ended disastrously two nights out
Crowden-in-Langendale campsite near the youth hostel
Started innocently enough "I've always respected your boundaries"
Jamie smoked an entire pack of cigarettes to the butt in ten minutes
Wouldn't talk to me the rest of the evening
Left the next morning and didn't see him for nine years
Part two was our reboot, Edale to Horton-in-Ribbensdale
Avoided the campsite to stay at the hostel
Part three Horton-in-Ribbensdale to Dufton, train from Appleby.
So now part four, four days and 37 miles till his feet wear out
Recuperate in Greenhead and catch the train back south.
Jericho Beach:
Where I spent my first-ever night in a Hosteling International hostel,
My first night in a hostel, period, cycling up from Bellingham
Where I was doing the internship with the Bellingham Herald.
First time I tried cycling up I'd not brought enough money --
I think they required $35 cash at the time. So I turned around
Tried again the following weekend cash in hand
Cycling up the motorway (legal in Washington state)
Back again, I find that the hostel looks virtually unchanged,
Just maybe a bit more ragged, in need of a paint job
For all I know I'm staying in the same dormitory as before
With the funky built-into-the-wall bunk beds in one narrow row
Having breakfast in the morning in the same cafe downstairs.
Empire Builder:
Route of my undergraduate years' pre-academic year trips west
Riding the rails as much as I could on my rail pass, two weeks non stop
Every night another train, another coach seat,
Except when the next train out is the next day, so I overnight
Hostel in Seattle, hostel in Los Angeles,
Plus the two nights' camping in Rocky Mountain National Park
And the hostel at Grand Lake, run by the funny preacher guy
These cars are the same ones I rode back then, Superliner class
Except that back then they were nearly brand new -- no more
Train's more crowded so no lying across two seats this time
The way I always used to, curled into a ball, just fitting
Over a hundred outside and freezing cold in the coach; go figure.
Here Jamie and I ended our Pennine Way section hike part three
Part one ended disastrously two nights out
Crowden-in-Langendale campsite near the youth hostel
Started innocently enough "I've always respected your boundaries"
Jamie smoked an entire pack of cigarettes to the butt in ten minutes
Wouldn't talk to me the rest of the evening
Left the next morning and didn't see him for nine years
Part two was our reboot, Edale to Horton-in-Ribbensdale
Avoided the campsite to stay at the hostel
Part three Horton-in-Ribbensdale to Dufton, train from Appleby.
So now part four, four days and 37 miles till his feet wear out
Recuperate in Greenhead and catch the train back south.
Jericho Beach:
Where I spent my first-ever night in a Hosteling International hostel,
My first night in a hostel, period, cycling up from Bellingham
Where I was doing the internship with the Bellingham Herald.
First time I tried cycling up I'd not brought enough money --
I think they required $35 cash at the time. So I turned around
Tried again the following weekend cash in hand
Cycling up the motorway (legal in Washington state)
Back again, I find that the hostel looks virtually unchanged,
Just maybe a bit more ragged, in need of a paint job
For all I know I'm staying in the same dormitory as before
With the funky built-into-the-wall bunk beds in one narrow row
Having breakfast in the morning in the same cafe downstairs.
Empire Builder:
Route of my undergraduate years' pre-academic year trips west
Riding the rails as much as I could on my rail pass, two weeks non stop
Every night another train, another coach seat,
Except when the next train out is the next day, so I overnight
Hostel in Seattle, hostel in Los Angeles,
Plus the two nights' camping in Rocky Mountain National Park
And the hostel at Grand Lake, run by the funny preacher guy
These cars are the same ones I rode back then, Superliner class
Except that back then they were nearly brand new -- no more
Train's more crowded so no lying across two seats this time
The way I always used to, curled into a ball, just fitting
Over a hundred outside and freezing cold in the coach; go figure.