My Summer Vacation

I spent my summer vacation

in the coconino county jail;

I just wanted to save the canyon

and I knew I couldn’t post the bail.

 

but all my friends were there with me

and we showed our solidarity;

they didn’t know what to make of us

and now we’re all walking free.

 

we’re walking and driving away from

that Arizona county line,

we’re heading out into the wilderness

and I know we’re gonna feel just fine.

 

a few hours breathing the air there,

a few hours beneath the trees,

a couple of days in that red rock place

is gonna make us feel at ease.

 

I spent my summer vacation

in the coconino county jail,

and I’ll do it again (don’t ask me when)

but now I’m heading on down the trail.

 

Dennis Fritzinger

from "Earth First! Campfire Poems"

Edited by Denis Fritzinger, Karen Coulter & Dwight Metzger

feral press 1998.

 

 

When the full moon rose

the three of us were

half-way up the steep side

of Balsam Mountain.

No flashlights, talking

to keep our nerve up

of what meant most to us,

we climbed single file hard

uphill through virgin

hemlock forests, the breath

burning in our throats.

Resting, we fell silent

and heard how the mountain

sings at night, how the falling

stream cut below the high path

struck music from the rocks.

 

Michael Perkins

from "Earth First! Campfire Poems"

Edited by Denis Fritzinger, Karen Coulter & Dwight Metzger

feral press 1998.