Random Thoughts While Hiking Mt Tom in the Time of the Virus by Dana Salisbury

Dana Salisbury lives in Easthampton, MA, in Hampshire County. She spent 20 years as a visual artist and became a choreographer for the next 20 years. Now she still dances and often writes. 

Random Thoughts While Hiking Mt Tom in the Time of the Virus
3-27-20

For Janine
Tuft of furry scat on the trail,
I thought skedaddle.
Scat skedaddle, liked the sound of it,
but then I had to ask my phone
how to spell skedaddle.

And On That Downward Slope
And on that downward slope, the slippery part where there’s still snow,
I drop my tail like a bitch; that’s where stability is.
I submit to the force of gravity
but won’t scrape my ass in the dirt.
I don’t plan to slip.

Handhold
When was the last time this sapling was used
as a handhold?
Was long enough ago?

When I Begin To Worry
I can smell myself and know that there is a human presence here. I am not alone.