For two summers, 1962 and 1963, I worked in a logging camp. It was located at Alice Lake, (not far from Bob’s Lake), about 30 minutes by float plane from Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, on the mainland. The men, good hard-working rednecks who enjoyed pranks on giving me a rough time.
I wrote a few poems that summers. They recount actual events. Here is the first (influenced by E. E. Cummings):
Cat and bat
By
Bryan Sanctuary, 1962 -17 years.
smooth—that’s what—
smooth
but still so quick while slick
i saw him move.
sly?—no—but fast
at last
i caught him at a catch
no match for others
smooth to move
quick and slick.
still i wonder as i thrill
see his art
at the start
then the dart.
yes—a bat
flew by the cat
as he sat
that fated bat
flew by the cat
whose eyes slant-slit
and mid full wit
that glance
that prance
to lay
his prey
then the play
before those jaws
locked the doors
behind that bat,
i saw that cat.
