All of This is Normal

I want to tell you we dropped our kid
off at camp today, but the truth is
he was driving the car.

Our kid drove himself to camp today.
This has never been written before.
We were in the car.

We experienced it. The double whammy
of our boy who used to be a toddler
with cheeks from here to eternity

operating a motor vehicle on the
freeways of Los Angeles, on his way
to eight weeks away…maybe nine –

I can’t bear to look at the calendar.
Speaking of bears, we’re going to Alaska
where we hope to see one.

Alaska has made no promises. Someday,
we won’t be in the car when he drives
from place to place. Someday he won’t even
live in our house. None of this is normal.

Vêtements

Pickle underwear
and coffee t-shirt.
You heard me right.
Vancouver, I’m ready
for anything.

Dear Vancouver

If you shoot off your
nine o’clock gun at 8:59
you’re not helping anyone.

It’s all bear going forward.

I
What’s behind the restricted access door
at the breakfast restaurant? Bears.
What does Koningsdam mean in English?
Bear. (Trust me.) Who brings our luggage
to our rooms on the ship? A bear.
You tip with honey.

II
I ask if Addie is ready for the amount of bear
that’s going to come out of my mouth.
She doesn’t answer. You’re not ready.
Then she reminds me she has a bear
in her suitcase. She’s ready.

III
Checking in for the cruise
I would have preferred to use
a bear‐ding pass.

IV
Addie’s looking for bears.
Now she expects them.
All I want is to give Addie bears.

Night

We could have been anywhere on Earth today
contained within this floating Las Vegas.
The views from the exterior decks may
be different, but nothing today was about Alaska.
That’s okay, Addie assures me, as the day was
filled with fun and food and food. Most decisions
on a day like today, in this moving place, involve
deciding what to eat, and whether to eat again
after just eating. The music is aces. One singer
pulled Addie up from the audience to dance.
It’s not the first time this has happened.
Once you spot an Addie in the crowd, that’s
who you naturally gravitate toward. That’s
how it worked for me. This could have been
anywhere. I’m sure it would have happened
outside Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The fact
it happened at sea is all the proof needed.
Tomorrow we will get off this ship.
Then we will get back on it.
Then we will get off it again and that will be it.
At least for the ship. Moose Watch 2024
is about to begin.

Good Morning Whitehorse

Six hours have passed since the
calendar read yesterday.

The sun has been with us all night.
Tim Horton’s sits on the counter

waiting for our mouths. We may not
have coffee until an airplane flies us

to where the gold is. I have beaten
my alarm by six lines of poetry.

I have so much water to put on my body
before this celebration of twenty years

gets off the ground.

High Moose Alert

I ask every
stranger we meet on the trail
if they are a moose.

Fire

We hear Denali is shut down
because of a fire, visible from the hill behind
where we stayed. No electricity.
No train in and out. People using
restrooms on bus shuttles in parking lots.

How lucky we were to see what we saw
when we saw it. May Denali be blessed
by the work of firefighters. May its
hidden moose and bear know what to do
so they can make their presence known
for future eyes.

May it always be known as
Denali.