Chico...
This place, far upstream of Joseph's birth cave
. lies where steelhead still must choose
. amongst three natal streams.
Several trails of the old ones cross here,
. where trails lie across open ridges
. and old camps were on dry benches.
Old Gray... lived here, the last of her kind,
. foraging skunk cabbage, couse, chipmunks and moths
. watching for the steelhead that came once a year.
Griz, other big carnivores and first peoples
. were not compatible with homesteaders and sheep-herders.
. Old Gray survived traps... for a long time.
I, too, have spent time in traps and waited for fish,
. foraged upon these hillsides, watching for sheep-herders.
. A fine place to meet a sunrise... or a sunset.
