Elan Mudrow
Smidgens
Trail Equations
Equation 1
At the trailhead
The snow dampens my spirit
Melting upon contact, on
My shivering hand, longing
To shut myself up inside a bubble
To drive back to wine and heat
Quietude among city streets
Under blankets of roofs
Lawns cured to perfection
Equation 2
There is a woman in the parking lot
She stands near the trailhead
Backpack overstuffed, hitchhiking
As if she expected the snowfall to be
Warmer, not quite as cold
As these mountains produce.
In her eyes is a search
For unknown calmness
Equation 3
I’ve seen her pace before
A deer running from a fire
An escape, a desire, a plan
Anywhere is better than
Where she is from
This longing, I recognize
The colliding equations of
Guessing when to leave
And knowing when to stay
Equation 4
The clouds have come down
From the sky to embrace me
There is something inside me
The trail, the clouds, her eyes
None and all combined
I am from the place she thinks
Produces fire dowsed by spirit.
Surely she can see
I am beginning on the trail
Still new, still so many rocks
Equation 5
As I leave her standing alone
Cars pass along the old highway
I hear them echo
Any one of them would take
Her to my city
She looks not at me nor the road
I’m a bit hesitant to travel
Deeper upon the trail
As if I didn’t want to leave her
Waiting
Equation 6
I look at the ground as I hike.
I’m Pan with hooves
Prancing through the forest with
Padded toe and supported heal
Provided by shoes made
By people I’ve never met.
Should I go back and tell her
Lewis & Clark ate dogs,
and that the river she
Follows has lost its rapids?
How trails change under our feet?
Equation 7
Her search is a construction
Of a trail she has in her heart
She won’t find what she’s looking for
Merely by running away
She will create the new trail
That becomes her comfort
That spreads out from the city
I was born and raised in
Her trail becomes mine
And mine becomes hers
As all my ancestors and hers
Have done before.
16 Comments on “Trail Equations”
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Elan Mudrow 
I can connect with your writing quite organically. Enjoyed
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A pleasure to read your craft!
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I enjoyed the perspectives in this poem (and the nod to genealogy of course. ) PS Thank you for following my blog!
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Reblogged this on LEAN IN TO JOY with BONEWEAVER and commented:
REBLOG; ❤ this
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This is a wonderful piece. Wonderfully simple on the surface, with many nuances beneath it. Well done.
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It’s wonderful how the trails and the travelers come together into one shared question. Your imagery captures the mood of the equations.
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Really nice poem. I love all the imagery and the beginning on the trail, “still new so many rocks”, yes I`ve been there and I am still learning!
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Fine poem! The lines flow together beautifully, and I read a controlled tension throughout.
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Beautiful and thoughtful. What if. This is what effective social studies teachers produce in their students – the ability to think critically by imagining what might have been if… As pure description of rain, I love these lines. The clouds have come down, From the sky to embrace me. Great post.
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I appreciate your depiction of all of us humans being One – on the playing field of life, not always so equal.
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Awesome
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Super collection, really enjoyed reading them, quite thought provoking actually! Take care
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I think we’ve all been at the Trail Head and wondered just where to go. I like the thought of being embraced by the clouds.
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This poem works on several levels and I appreciated it very much. Thank you
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Great piece, I’ll be following your blog with a close eye! If you check mine out too and follow me that would be great! Thanks!
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Love all the equations.
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