ALONE ON A WINDY RIDGE: Winter Owing

Monday, December 15, 2014

Winter Owing

When fortunate enough to get any specimens of Mice I will put them in Rum.

– Donald Gunn to Spencer Baird. Feb 20, 1856.*

O fur of fortune

slicked back

post-molasses

bottom of the cask

grave half-closed

amber eyes

short-lashed

smashed

O white-footed

swig

distilled post-squeak

spirit grog

O naked

swizzle stick

Ho ho ho

oak swish

pink post-lick

tongue

______________

*The title and epigraph are from Donald Gunn’s letter to Spencer Baird in The Modern Beginnings of Subarctic Ornithology: Northern Correspondence with the Smithsonian Institution, 1856-68, edited and introduced by Debra Lindsay. Winnipeg: Manitoba Record Society, 1991. A fascinating book.

4 comments:

Ariel Gordon said...: Very nice! (Anna says she really likes the "O naked / swizzle stick" bit...); 15/12/14 1:00 PM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Thanks A! And Anna! And thank you so much for the book!; 15/12/14 1:03 PM
theresa said...: Perfect. (And what a way to go.); 15/12/14 7:26 PM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Thank you!; 15/12/14 8:29 PM

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