We took to our favourite island last weekend for an overnight stay.

We arrived a little tired:

But were quickly whisked down to the promontory to read poetry at sunset:

The next morning we rose to a big breakfast of eggs, coffee, sausages and hashbrowns to sustain us for a couple hours’ kayak:

And then we were glad. 

Softly now, you’re breaking my heart…

Grafton Bay, Bowen Island, last Friday evening 

all i hear is the whisper of rain
falling with its calming steadiness.

i wait for the sun
waking from its laborious slumber.

i sit huddled, in a wooded frame
while the window pane, my protector,
reveals midnight dissolving to dawn.

and i wait.

morning will soon turn to noon and noon to…

but i must take the day as it’s coming,
and its movements
are rushed only by my thoughts.

i feel as though this moment is forever and
i do not want morning to come, with
its mid-day demands and
worn-out agenda.

i would rather sit here still,
perched by my window,
staring at this morning’s washing

while my own mouth whispers:

Glory be.

christina crook, bowen island, october 20, 2008

Michael and I have stolen away to Bowen Island to house-sit for a couple of weeks.

Our friends, the Cowpers, are away in Africa — first landing in Swaziland to tour Bulembu (an incredible self-sustaining community founded by Vancouver’s Volker Wagner, and led, in large part, by our good friend Jamie Woller. We just had the opportunity to visit with Jamie over a few days, at the To Change the World Emerging Leaders Summit, presented by Cardus, in Ottawa.) Then the Cowpers travel to South Africa and, finally Namibia.

People ask us why we’re here on the island, (it’s definitely not convenient.) But really nothing can capture our sentiments other than experience (right, Avital? right, Jenn?)

Waking to waves washing up on the shoreline, staring through forested hills as I wile away at the computer, ending our days by candlelight — well, those are a few of the reasons, for sure.

Here’s the view from dinner Monday night:

Do you see what I mean? ;)

Also, as a writer, I find new places and experiences inspiring. Travel, for me, is renewing. These experiences give new breadth to my work, spurring ideas, poems, articles, that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. For some, this is hard to understand, but for me, it is a way of life.

–

Tomorrow I will post a Bowen poem. They’ve been spilling out since we arrived Sunday. The first of many, I hope.