Volume 16, Number 92, August/September 2013
WINNER OF THE POETRY: THE JAMES AND MARY CORVESE PRIZE
BC Northern Route
by Alven G. Ens

like synchronized swimmers
the windshield wipers wave to me
as I watch for moose or is that elk
for the next 30 km
I also watch for trucks turning but see
neither
the curvy road passes
over the North Thompson several times
and I wonder if God could have made the river
straighter
or perhaps the curvy road should be
straighter
we cross the Thunder River
and I see it but hear no thunder
until my tires hit the highway’s side ribbing
to create their own thunder
the sign says 76 km to the next gas station
and I think maybe a more pressing need might
be
to say 76 km to the next washroom
it’s raining lightly and the drops run up the
windshield
so I marvel that Newton’s gravity is defied
wondering if Newton ever travelled fast
enough in the rain
with a glass shield in front of him to see this
phenomenon
which law of physics explains this
and whether I could calculate a co-efficient
if I knew the angle of the slope and my speed
and whether the size of the drops would need
measuring
I am exhorted to keep BC green and I think
that is for the Mountain Pine Beetle so I hope
it can read
it’s now 26 km to the next Tim Horton’s
I see evidence of a forest fire with bare
blackened trunks
as scraggly as my beard or a balding old
woman
I watch the mountains and streams
and open vistas with low-hanging clouds
and man-made erections interfering
as welcome as the voyeur
the next spot of interest
has a parking lot look-out with a toilet manmade
passing lanes come only when I don’t need
them
coniferous blends with deciduous
and a bed and breakfast beckons me