[return to Contents Page]

Tish Davis

Night Paddling

I show my son how to tie up the food pack. “It keeps the bears away.” He carries me through the darkness to the lake’s edge where my husband is waiting with the canoe. The last time I was in the Boundary Waters I was the teenager. Now I must ride in the center of the boat. My doctor advised against this trip and told me not to expect remission from the disease that is consuming my body.

Paddles pull us forward away from the pines and into starlight. Here the moon dissolves into the lake. I take a metal cup out of the pouch and dip it into the water.

planetarium
an operator
freezes the sky