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| 2.18.15 newspaper from Portland, Maine |
A few weeks ago I was in Maine and as I was sipping some coffee in a local place, the headline from a newspaper someone had left behind caught my eye: "Lost in woods on subzero night, two teens
survive on smarts."
I quickly read the story about the two teenagers, Tyler and Jonah. At the time I was uncertain as to why I was snapping pictures of the story--but it felt like a potential poem--a found poem. I wrote the poem from Jonah's point of view.
Lost in Woods On Subzero Night
9 p.m.
below zero
lost in the Maine woods
after the Arctic Cat quit.
Stay calm
keep moving.
Me & Tyler walked through knee-deep snow,
Scared.
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| Lost in Woods (Reilly, 2015) |
I'd have gone a little crazy
out there
in the middle of the woods
without him:
(I trust this kid
with my life
my life).
Show me a sign.
Come on.
Show me a sign.
Find shelter
build a fire.
Tyler says:
A shooting star
goes down
and that's where the storage shed is.
We tore boards off,
broke the lock
to get inside--used a fire starter:Gasoline & a broken sign.
We spent the night
huddled
and
waited
waited
waited.
At dawn
we walked out.
We walked
across the ice
found that road
that led us here
now
alive.
