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Contents:

       Writing from Travels in the American Outback

      Essays and Errata

      Poemas del Desierto 

Writing from Travels in the American Outback

Down the River with Mike and the Ghost of Ed Abbey
           "Laid when ferns ruled and goggle-eyed
           fish-things slopped among the cockles"

A Trip to Southern Utah, Spring 1999
            "I emerge from the cleft shivering and
            squinting at the bright sky. ...this is
            the canyon where Raven was born"

My First Run of the Canyon
          "Before there was the first pull of the oars, before the
            first riffle, before the red-stained walls loomed above,
            there was anxiety."

Alaska Kayak Trip: Prince William Sound
            "The boat rides the tidal vortex around
            the point...we swirl about and worry for the
            fragile skin of the boat against heavy ice"

Hot Canyon Cool Dog
            "Hey dude, you try walking six inches above
            this burning plain wearing a furry coat"

Eastern Nevada, Summertime
            "You are always tripping over such enigmas
            here in the outback. A curious species is us,
            you think, yes indeed"

Storm Chasing in the High Bradshaws
       "…hiss Flash CRACK rumble. The storm
            hammers this egg of an earth as if to crack
            and crumble it under the Thor-bite of its teeth"

Powell Reservoir Kayak Trip -- with photos
           "I wouldn’t trade all the wonderful reflections that
           30 years of slackwater have produced for one noble
           cottonwood, beaver chewed, the light glowing in pastel
           green leaves rattled by a warm evening breeze."

A Trip to Baja -- with photos
       "It was magical to sit in the hot pool at sunset, watching
           ospreys hunting in front of a full moon rising out of the
           Sea of Cortez."

Desolation and Gray Canyon Raft Trip
            "After a thousand years it looked sturdy and intact
             and ready for more cobs should a maizefarmer find
             a modern need for storage on such a pretty perch."

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Essays and Errata

Low in the Waterpocket Fold

"There’s a chockstone garden up above,
and I’m in the tomato chute"

                                                           A Burning Wind

"But most of all they tested.  We tested.
We set off nuclear bombs with wild and frequent
abandon.  Like a young couple in love
we did it wherever and whenever we thought
we could get away with it."

Return to Cainville Mesa

                     "The clays and chalks thus eroded are
                                      poor soil,,,folded and unforgiving. The
                                    Spanish word is malpais. Bad country"

                      A Short Trip to Japan

                        "The teeming fires in the firmament
                                        winding about the high polestar, energy
                                     unwound in the next day’s sunrise"

                                 Raven Circles By

                              "The movement, and pausing, and
                    movement of water upon the rock. If truth
              is a word, then beauty is a note..."

            Chris' Guide to Canyon Exploring

                    "Don’t be afraid to get nekkid. The rocks
               are all bare, so why not you?"

                         Condor 11

                                         "A handful of their kind hovers here. Not
                                     places like this. Here. This cliff. This
                           canyon. Above this very terrace"

                  Rapid    (here)

                                      "The call to join and drift for a moment’s
                                   moment upon a high static crest before
                                          the chaos of time and desire and a frothing
                                          unknown future snatches us downriver"

                              Canyon Love Song

                                      "I stand toes wet but heels sinking into
                                          your love. If only the earth were a circle
                                     and I could surf upon your curve"

             Alpine at Dawn

                                                "These are strong hands, lined and
                     tanned, sturdy like the land"

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Poemas del Desierto

Coyote and Me
     "I will sniff your anonymous tuff and declare it divine"

But the Rain  (father's poem)
     "The water splashes granite splashes
      Shadows left from a raven passing"

Working for Raven
     "He sells you secret shares of the otherworld"

Deception   (here)
     "I will bring the day to you worn"

Becoming Again
     "Other nights will stretch stiller
      This one becomes gilded, will rain"

Pass me (Wine)
     "Where is the moon?
      Lost in this sand like a coin"

Coverage     (here)
     "Who will stand hurricane watch?"

Weather      (here)
     "Our hair would sprout thorns
      And we could bleed in the wind"

Shasta Shore
     "We always imagined a season
      To end with a turn"

Bleached Bones   (young man's poem)
     "Postmark this from the antelope range
      My life and I have become estranged"

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All Selections Copyright Chris Schiller 1998, 1999, 2000

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