Poetry Feature: Three Poems by David Wilson

The compression of poems, often on a single page, lends itself to the intensity of experience climbing brings. And judgment of line, use of space and balance are important in poems, as they are in climbing.

David Wilson's chapbook Slope was recently published by smith/doorstop books, available here. The author's proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Doug Scott's Community Action Nepal. -Ed.

Bluemlisalp traverse above Kandersteg, Bernese Alps. [Photo] Abacus Mountain Guides

Crampons

I thought I'd given you away.

But opening a jiffy bag in the attic,

there you are: same black spikes

and anti-ball plates, same bindings,

not a fumble with straps, rings, buckles,

but the slip of a boot into a bail,

the pull and snap of a clip.

Tell me again about being single-minded,

about couloirs bulging with fat blue ice

and dawn arriving high in the Alps;

how a slope exists at a perfect angle

where it all might kick in again,

on neve so pure your front-points hold

with just the lightest tap of my toes.

Stob Coire nan Lochan, Winter

Climbing dissolves me in colour,

orange-red blur of heart effort,

blue precision of balancing up.

Ice becomes my picture plane,

the white surface I pattern with marks.

Our line curves up from the drop below

through to the top of our frozen world.

At every point my placements hold.

We rest at the summit. Landscape stills.

Beyond white hills the sun sets

where islands, sky and sea-lochs merge:

I am here again, I am here after all.

We go back the way we came,

share stories in the listening dusk.

Above Stob Coire's silhouette

two stars balance a crescent moon.

Down

We've had our fill of edge and jagged and carrying

weight. How good to be back on flat ground,

an Alpine village, tables under the stars,

pizza stringing up to our mouths,

glasses of red leading us south.

Who knows what starts us laughing, perhaps

Paddy's joke about three dogs at the vet's

or Hilary quoting her dad's secret diary

but it all follows in one mass,

our lives, whatever possessed us.

Eyes stream, we gulp for air,

our laughter tonight a funnel

through which everything passes,

everything that's happened,

everything that will.

The author on Ben Nevis, Grampian Mountains, Scotland. [Photo] David Wilson collection