hike

Blueberry Picking on Jay Mountain

I make my living as an artist these days,
but once it was only poetry.
and I made no living.

I decided to make a painting to go
with each poem, that is why the title
of my art always comes to me first.

Sometimes the title is so fulfilling
that the art never gets created.
The pleasure was in the written word.

The satisfaction was in the thought
worked out and brought down
from that level where all the gods play

Where all the poets amuse themselves
spending their time touching all the poetry,
and picking all the blueberries

I climb Jay Mountain every year on my birthday to pick blueberries. This year I was able to pick three pies. Seldom do I ever see anyone up there, but this year Nancie Battaglia and a group of friends came up to walk the ridge, she took these three photos of me (the one on the left and two above) picking blueberries.

The mountain never fails to disappoint. Rain or shine, cloudy or clear doesn't really matter here. What's important is to have the time in quiet contemplation, to pick the berries and appreciate what we have here in the Adirondack Mountains.