Daniel Willner
Dan Willner
Under Shelving Rock
There’s no wrong way to the summit
Shelving Rock is so small
other mountains sidle up
to look good by comparison
I’ve been coming here for years
alone, married, a father
wondering always
if mountains are fountains for men, why
do I get to the top
and still feel like I’m climbing?
The trail up Shelving Rock
was cut by one man
(or so the story goes)
who was so strong that he could pull
a sapling from the ground by hand
and do it fifty times a day
Jack Dacy made his life here
He built a house and farm
along the slopes of Shelving Rock
then saw them burn and built again
Great-grandson Bill says
Algonquin once hunted this forest
the Iroquois called them Adirondack
Bark Eaters
An insult to a tribe
that couldn’t otherwise survive
these long dark winters
But the winters didn’t end them
They thrived here, season on season
for uncounted generations
until they met the British and the French
and picked the wrong side (or that’s the story)
(Bill's all stories)
Bill says too
that if we dig by the mouth
of Shelving Rock Brook
we’ll find some arrowheads
so the kids and I
will look and see