{"id":8772,"date":"2021-09-06T18:03:10","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T22:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/?p=8772"},"modified":"2021-09-19T10:00:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T14:00:45","slug":"from-above-after-f-r-scott-by-philip-thatcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/from-above-after-f-r-scott-by-philip-thatcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem: ‘From Above after F. R. Scott’ by Philip Thatcher"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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From Above<\/strong><\/div>
after F. R. Scott<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
That is when you see it<\/div>
how water pervades this land<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
From a single propeller Beaver low<\/div>
over Johnstone Strait, over the<\/div>
sounds and inlets reaching into<\/div>
sheer coastal rock before touching<\/div>
down so, so deftly<\/div>
on the Kingcome River<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Coming out of Inuvik, the Mackenzie Delta<\/div>
below a maze of ponds, channels<\/div>
a labyrinth of passage and dead ends<\/div>
looking for that Ariadne thread<\/div>
as westward the east slope of the<\/div>
Richardson Mountains marks where<\/div>
the last ice age came to a stop<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Flying west from Fort Simpson to the<\/div>
South Nahanni River and its falls,<\/div>
above the myriad lakes below<\/div>
and eastward from Yellowknife<\/div>
into Nunavut, then west again over<\/div>
lake upon lake, the blue of each<\/div>
alight at the ending of the day<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Rising out of Cape Dorset and looking<\/div>
north into Baffin Island, lakes spreading<\/div>
across the wet earth, into the wet earth<\/div>
northward, southward<\/div>
three million of them<\/div>
configuring this land<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
On the night flights high above<\/div>
an inkling of the Voyageur canoes<\/div>
that once travelled far below,<\/div>
the long stretches of opening water<\/div>
and the portages well known,<\/div>
sensing down into the darkness<\/div>
how water holds this land together<\/div>
how water prepares the way<\/div>
into this land and away from it<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
An early spring flight westward over<\/div>
the Davis Strait. Below a mesh of ice<\/div>
breaks south toward Newfoundland<\/div>
as its bergs begin to emerge<\/div>
and a flight eastward through<\/div>
a long summer night, from the north<\/div>
side of the plane<\/div>
At the horizon<\/div>
the mouth of a great river empties<\/div>
into what lies beyond the horizon<\/div>
Above its flow the sun that does<\/div>
not set floods open<\/div>
spills down<\/div>
into the long summer night<\/div>
an effulgence of water<\/div>
an intimation of fire<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Philip Thatcher, August 2021<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Aboveafter F. R. Scott\u00a0That is when you see ithow water pervades this land\u00a0From a single propeller Beaver lowover Johnstone Strait, over thesounds and inlets reaching intosheer coastal rock before touchingdown so, so deftlyon the Kingcome River\u00a0Coming out of Inuvik, the Mackenzie Deltabelow a maze…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8772"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8875,"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8772\/revisions\/8875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthroposophy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}