Mallory and Irvine
Not for us the slipping and tumbling as though there were no more air to take in, as though everything had been lost now in the summit’s shadow, the last triangle – not the two of us yoked in death as in life, in the skittering cold and glare, the sheer falling –
Rather, a final rising: finding our way along steps that others never knew, never imagined, as though the ultimate path had suddenly revealed itself. Letting nothing hinder or stay our progress up through that mist toward that unending swirl of snow.
Jared Carter has published four collections of poetry, the most recent being Cross this Bridge at a Walk, from Wind Publications in Kentucky. His work has appeared in the Georgia, Iowa, Kenyon, and Mid-American Reviews, and in Poetry and Witness. A sampling of his poems and stories may be found on his web site www.jaredcarter.com