Enjoy the Day

One morning on a ridgetop east of Loowit

 after campstove coffee

 looking at the youthful old volcano

 breathing steam and sulfur

 sunrise lava

 bowls of snow

 went up behind a mountain hemlock

 asked my old advisors where they lay

 what’s going on? 

they say

 “New friends and dear sweet old tree ghosts

           here we are again. Enjoy the day.”

--Gary Snyder

Some poetry resonates with our daily lives, some poetry takes us to different worlds--worlds of different experiences, places, perspectives--or just worlds of words.  Poems can inspire.  But there's something to be said for poems that refresh.  What this poem does for you can be both, especially when you know the story.

Loowit is in Washington state, near Mt. St. Helens. It is said to also be the "Indian" (Sahaptin) name for the volcano. This poem is from Snyder's 2004 book, Danger on Peaks. Its first section is about this mountain and this area of Washington.  He notes that he first climbed Mt. St. Helens on August 13, 1945, one day before he saw the first photographs of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9.  That day he vowed on the "purity and beauty and permanence of Mt. St. Helens" that he would fight against cruel destructive power for the rest of his life.  He was 15. He is now 92.