Gerry Jacobson

Up There, Down Here

Did you ever climb in the Himalayas, Grandad? And she flashes up pictures of the Bottleneck on K2 and of climbers with head torches before dawn. Are these videos in real time on her phone?

So we talk about K2 and the Bottleneck and the overhanging serac. And we talk about Mt. Everest and how the route is marked by dead bodies. My stomach churns just thinking about this – the death zone above 8000 metres. And no, Sweetheart, I’ve never … just that single glimpse of the Himalayas one morning, taking off from Kathmandu airport.

And Pokhara: my Nepalese colleagues take me there for a weekend. What I remember is how we get stopped by a landslide and a Buddhist nun squatting beside the bus, so I look away and see a vast field of stones and countless people cracking them with hammers, and down the river comes a fleet of kayaks with European tourists

after
diarrhoea
I break my fast…
that first rice cake
tastes so delicious

---

About the Author

Gerry Jacobson lives in Canberra, Australia, and can be found writing tanka in its cafes.  He was a geologist in a past life and now celebrates reincarnation as a dancer.

---