Matthew Lovegrove immerses us in mountain peaks, a fitting poem as warm nights and days leave us and shift toward winter. Enjoy this poem, “at home in the wild heart,” from Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry, 2022.
at home in the wild heart
Matthew Lovegrove
at home in the
wild heart
of the Coast Mountains,
the sun shears off
castellated peaks,
casting shadows
on the valley floor.
at the end
of summer,
sky-hung lakes
fall dark
inside an
apron of talus.
the occasional rattle
of rockfall
pierces the silence
so deeply
that stars bleed out
even brighter.
we breathe in
this beauty
from the peaks
that we carry
with us this,
and every night.
a warm breeze
the last of its kind
before winter —
the beating of the
tent flap
is the heartbeat
I dream to.
Read more poems, short stories, and essays from and about wild places in Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry. To order a copy of our current or past issues, and to read our submission guidelines for the upcoming issue, visit deepwildjournal.com
Deep Wild Journal 