Adirondack chair
draped with moose
hide in front of her
ramshackle tent,
with her feather quill
tight against her breast,

~wood, fur, cloth, and flesh
reclining in nature's position~

Palm Sunday
avalanche died
dreams of golden
wealth, a camp tent
set up for a temporary
morgue,

~celebration assayed in spirits,
cremated remains sprinkled in snowflakes~

winter's thick
with snow and
treacherous ice,
spring and fall, animals,
wagons and sled slog along
through unending mud,

~frozen dreams unthaw
just in time to sink in clay~

publishers quick
to profit from maps,
handbooks and guides,
the horses dead
from exposure and
starvation, mail service
inadequate at best, it takes
a dollar to do what ten cents
can do at home,

~get rich quick schemes at the expense of greed,
the duck stamp bleeds~

Simon and Garfunkel
harmonized in the 1970's,
women stampeders were
one of every ten in the Klondike
Gold Rush 1897 bridging the gap
between Pussy Fever and Gold Fever
moving our provisions down the river,

~Bridge Over Troubled Water,
floating gold albums and nuggets~

Copyright 11/09/2009 Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist