Quilcene August 23, 2019

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Dungeness Spit August 22, 2019

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rain forest

Four tree species tower above us in the old growth

Standing here reaching towards the sunlight

Above the moss and damp decay of the rain forest

Where the tiny sprouts of seedlings rise up green.

Five tribes walked these woods long before

The Europeans arrived with their saws and laws

Stealing their natural resources as private property

Destroying a way of life clear cutting for a fast buck.

The remaining islands of old growth bring ecotourists here

Learning the names of the giants left to witness

All that has happened here in the last five hundred years

Douglas-Fir, Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, and Western Red-Cedar.

But the reservations languish in the pain of poverty

Proud people with unique art and culture and traditions

Holding on against the total loss of their identity 

Quinault, Quineute, Makah, Klallam, and Skokomish.

The shaved hills regenerate a new growth forest

Lovely in its own way recapitulating the succession

Led by the red alders pioneering followed by big leaf maples

Dwarfed in time by the conifers a century later.  

Do not forget as we consume the lumber

Do not forget as we eat the salmon

Do not forget as we drink the water

Remember the sacrifice of the first people.

Spruce Rail Trail August 21, 2019

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