June Stoddard

Knowing the way

Driving north into Canada
I arrive at the landing after years of absence
finding my way in the dark
lit by fireflies
and kerosene lamps in cottages
I glide by.
The only noise
gentle waves lapping against
the wood and canvas canoe
my great-grandfather made,
guiding with my hand carved paddle,
stroking the water as if I have never been gone.
Knowing my way by starlight
through and around
rock outcroppings, points, and hidden bays.
A summer homecoming,
a hundred years in the family,
always home to me.

On rough-hewn boards
I step up pine needle strewn stairs,
holding the perfect arched branch
my father searched for and
honed into the log cabin railing.
Open the door.
Read on high beds,
stuffy old wool blankets,
bark peeling off virgin cedar walls,
surrounded by sounds of
water lapping the rocky point.
On the porch, bed swing holds me,
as I curl under Hudson’s Bay blankets,
reading Treasure Island
hearing bagpipes through the fog.

I open the door,
in or out,
it doesn’t matter,
all in nature,
all of nature,
surrounded in memory.
Each rock,
each mossy outcropping
brings back my childhood.
Almost every summer
I find my way in the dark
on the lake in our canoe,
or on the trail.
I know each slippery spot
on log bridges crossing wetlands
these sensations my lifeblood.

I swim around the point,
awakening cold springs,
in the lake so big and dark
part of the lake, I swim.

My mother skinny-dipped into her 90’s
where she found her strength,
where her doctor grandfather built canoes
where her father was mentored by his father,
where I became one with the water
where I found my way,
and taught each of my daughters
to find theirs.

In or out, it doesn’t matter,
all in nature, all of nature,
surrounded in memory and knowing.
I find my way in the dark
a hundred years here
always home. 

June Stoddard reads her work at Susan Hayden's Library Girl, Elena Secota's Rapp Salon, and is published in Blue Sky Press Publications. She writes weekly with Peggy Dobreer’s Slow Lightning Lit, and during the pandemic weekly with Jackie Heinze's Rise & Write On. June counts being a literary magazine editor, career coach & headhunter, mom of twins, and producer among the many hats she wears.  June was mentored by Carolyn See and Jim Krusoe in creative writing and is a graduate of UW-Madison with a double Major in English & Theatre. 

She lives in Santa Monica, CA. 

An earlier version of “Knowing the Way” was published in Blue Sky Press’s 2021 publication HOME.