Here's a poem from Dee Middleton written by Marcia Adams, who lived in or near the Wilseyville lumber camp when the mill was running. I think everyone will particularly enjoy the title.
Understory
By
Marcia Adams
The area below the forest canopy. . .
Due to little light, some learn to live, others fall.
Walk with me into a Mokelumne wilderness
Where I can show you how to love even
The surprising scent of mountain misery.
We will explore a natural Calaveras stand
Of dry snags and sawtimber, learn to decipher
Heartwood rings, the understory of old skulls.
Listen close for the ghosts of long gone lumberjacks,
Soft shift whistles from Wilseyville’s mill,
As snow thaw water rushes down the Licking Fork.
Imagine Blue Mountain’s base all ablaze in buttercups,
A wizened coyote shape shifter full of strange old stories
about all those upper story women who fell for him.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Understory by Marica Adams
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7 comments:
pretty good poem- my sister is a published poet and I definitely think this is as good!
I can remember listening to the steam powered log carriage going back and forth as I slept out side. I wonder if that field of buttercups is gone forever. Much else certainly is.
Alan
But maybe that coyote, that little trickster, is still around....laughin at us.
Melissa, this is great! I really like the reference to mountain misery, a favorite Sierra plant of mine. Was Marcia Adams in the area for long? Is there a nearby mill that has taken the place of the one at Wilseyville, or has overlogging or some other factor caused all mills to shut down there?
Ryan
Hello,
I am Marcia Adams. Just found this site by Goggling Wilseyville history. How nice! Love what I am seeing about this project. My family moved to Wilseyville when it opened in the early 1940's. We lived at number 4, on the circle until 1954. Oh the sweet memories! I'm making a collection of my writing about all this. Thanks for the positive comments. Very motivating!
Marica--so great to hear from you! Thanks for posting a comment!
jesikah
This poem was previously published in two anthologies, Manzanita, Poetry & Prose of the Mother Lode & Sierra, Volume 5 and Porter Gulch Review, 2006.
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