“Shooting the Split”
Layered with lime and a batter of wind
An icing of green, glazed by cool water
With mountains of garland On a silver blue dish
We approach with awe, before the shooting the split
I tasted it first When I was young
And ever after As will my sons
The head of a canyon that married earth’s waters
I’ll always revere this As will my daughters
Packed in ice for thousands of years
In patient grace, Who knew it was there?
Unwavering beauty, earth mother laid bare
With Serpentine silicates, Tatoskok I hear
Tobapsqua, Rock Regio, “the pass through the rock”
Algonquin, Mohican, Abenaki, and Mohawk
The frogs and the limeys, The men of Utrecht
Had reverent respect, Where we shoot the split
We toss a few offerings into the deep
For the spirit that lives there, and let it sleep
Knickknacks and trinkets, some food, just a bit
We ask forgiveness, before shooting the split
Reading the seas as they wash over stone
Gauging, we measure the breeze’s false rythm
We plan ahead, a route to commit
Timing is all, when shooting the split
On thru the pass With kayak and canoe
sail board and guide boat, whatever we choose
But we must be attentive, it may be a ruse
And we’ll be in trouble if we misread the mood
When the waters are restless, eager and impish
we cannot be gentle, we mustn’t be skittish
We scull and we sweep, we pitch and we draw
and revel thru that passionate maw
But when she steps lightly to tenderly wade
The Guardian… of the lake in between
Invites us gently to her cozy womb
With sweet caress, and woody perfume
Embraced by the grotto, nestled in cliffs
When Swells gently rock, we linger in it
And We feel at home
When shooting the split
The lake in between it rises and falls
Washing us over, then ebbing, enthralled
And when it peaks, we’re right there with it
And do that thing we call shooting the split
Related articles
- Winter Moorings (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Aerial View (rosslynredux.com)
- Coyote Capers (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Split Rock (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Presented at the Poetry Open Mike at the Belden Noble Library, I’m flattered to see it published here. Split Rock has been a landmark for thousands of years, a boundary marker for native tribes and European nations, a meeting place, and sacred ground, for ancient peoples from all over the northeast. It is made of some of the oldest exposed rock on earth. The silicate formations resemble serpents and may be responsible for ancient myths of a lake monster. Split Rock Point is privately owned and should be respected as such. Many thanks to our friends the Heurich family for preserving this gift from Mother Nature.
A program on Champlain lighthouses followed PBS Evening News Hour on Mtn Lakes recently, and I was thrilled to see “my” Split Rock lighthouse featured and hosted by you, Kevin. Seeing your middle name, Keller, and reading here of your family being early Crater Clubbers, I wonder – is that as in Phil Keller? My parents were Dottie and Don Large, who owned “Bittersweet” at the CC after living in St. John’s rectory for a few summers, in which I spent my first summer in utero. Then they built a year ’round house on then open farmland two miles north of Essex, subsequent woods thanks to dear friend Koert Burnham’s transplanting of scores of seedlings from “Highlands”. Gratefully, Margie and David Reuther have aggrandized the house and property brilliantly since then.
Thank you, Kevin, for “Shooting the Split” and for helping to preserve the Rock.
Carol Calhoun
Weybridge, VT
Yes, Carol… Phil and Ellie Keller. I remember having tea with your parents… dear friends of Phil and Ellie. And I’ve worked with David at Champlain Valley FIlms. The house is lovely!
Kevin such a masterful raconteur like poem. You take the reader
on a journey to our beautiful Lake! Well done!!!!!!
Tom Warner~ artist/poet