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      You are here: Home / Arts / Shooting the Split

      Shooting the Split

      December 5, 2013 By Kevin Cooper 4 Comments

      Spilt Rock (Credit: Kevin Cooper)
      Kayaking at Spilt Rock (Credit: Kevin Cooper)

      “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

      -Kevin Keller Cooper
      Related articles
      • Winter Moorings (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Essex Aerial View (rosslynredux.com)
      • Coyote Capers  (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Split Rock (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

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      Filed Under: Arts, Nature Tagged With: Kevin Cooper, Poetry, Shooting the Split, Split Rock

      About Kevin Cooper

      A lifelong supporter of the Essex community (his family were among the first Crater Clubbers). Kevin Cooper has been active in the arts, the environment, and many local organizations, including the Essex Theater Company, The Grange, The Split Rock Yacht Club, Piano by Nature, The Depot Theater, The Jay Players, and others. He is a seasoned hiker, sailor, guide boat skipper, paddler, cross country skier, musician, artist, health care provider, and actor.

      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. Kevin Cooper says

        December 6, 2013 at 10:41 am

        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.

        Reply
      2. Carol Calhoun says

        December 8, 2013 at 10:41 pm

        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

        Reply
      3. Kevin Cooper says

        December 10, 2013 at 10:29 am

        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!

        Reply
      4. Tom Warner says

        December 18, 2013 at 7:55 am

        Kevin such a masterful raconteur like poem. You take the reader
        on a journey to our beautiful Lake! Well done!!!!!!
        Tom Warner~ artist/poet

        Reply

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