When Mountains Bend to Canada

                Hey a hey a yip yip hey---
                It’s like British Columbia coming
                down to meet the Southwest in
                Colorado’s Front Range and all
                those snowy white peaks from
                Pikes to Evans to Longs bending
                ever northwesterly to Wyoming’s
                Snowy Range and its windblown
                spruce looking just like totem poles.
                Hey a hey a yip yip hey—
                still bending to the Wind Rivers
                and Absorakas and Grand Tetons
                bending northwesterly toward
                Yellowstone with red lava rocks
                the shape of carved animal heads.
                Hey a hey a yip yip hey---
                still bending toward Montana’s
                Madison Range and Flatheads
                and into to Canada’s MacDonalds
                bending way up to the Athabascas
                and headwaters of the Fraser River.
                Hey a hey a yip yip hey---
                “Come brother salmon and take
                my hook,” says the Chinook
                sending his voice all the way
                back to Colorado’s white Rockies.
                Hey a hey a yip yip hey---
                I’m beginning to think it’s the will
                of that old northern trickster, the raven
                and  his southern brother, the coyote.
                Hey a hey a yip yip hey!
         
                                             Richard F. Fleck

This poem originally appeared in the journal Writing Nature (Brattleboro, Vermont).