Last Tuesday I drove my friend Doug for his first visit to Petroglyphs Provincial Park. We took my little red Miata so we could enjoy the twisty backroads - it was a perfect sunny day for the expedition. I first visited the Teaching Rocks with my mother when I moved to the village of Marmora around 1991. Since then I've visited many times, usually introducing a fresh person to the wonderment of the beautiful setting and the power of the First Nations rock carvings. Here is the poem Simon De Abreu wrote after visiting in 2010.
Thursday 3 March 2011
After Visiting the Teaching Rocks (poem by Simon C. De Abreu)
After Visiting the Teaching Rocks
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
life in the city grabbed me by the throat
Enough is enough was my response.
The city with all its pavement
Fast moving digital water, and metal bison
Away with them
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
They won't get me all up in arms
In their small backyards
Let the city hall chieftains threaten war
Upon returning from Kinomagewapkong
I have not lost my "petroglyphic perspective."
I have not forgotten to read the stars
before I go to sleep.
The Great Rabbit, Nenabozhoo
a.k.a. Nanabush, walks
confidently in my, wide awake,
sleepy heart
and mind.
I sleep soundly.
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
I thank you Great Porcupine, and Big Skunk,
Thank you Poet Chris from the hamlet of Malone,
You brought me to the park and out I came ...
After visiting the Teaching Rocks ...
The city and all those frantic people
will not be allowed to nest in my mind.
The city and its fast pace living
will one day soon overwhelm me,
I am sure
Memories of the Teaching Rocks
will only
revive me
lovingly embrace me
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
They kindly call to me
Their songs asking me to keep going
until I can return to speak with them
in the flesh
Warm and cold
Living and dying
Under the stars surrounded
by the owls, turtles, snakes,
coyotes, wolves, crickets
turkeys, bears, mosquitoes
and frogs.
After visiting the Teaching Rocks ...
Simon De Abreu
The Pearl Company Gallery and Theatre
Hamilton, Ontario
note: Last summer, in the week of camping at ZenRiver Gardens leading up to PurdyFest #4, one afternoon we crammed four of us (Simon, Melanie, Katherine, me) into my testosteroned Subaru and motored 50 minutes to Petroglyphs Provincial Park. As Simon beautifully recounts here in poetry, the spiritual power of this ancient First Nations site was overwhelmingly transformative. Afterwards, we continued on to the village of Buckhorn, where we sat in an open-air cafe by the locks and ate veggie burgers and sipped imported beer, sharing the powerful spell the Petroglyphs had most willingly cast on all of us.
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
life in the city grabbed me by the throat
Enough is enough was my response.
The city with all its pavement
Fast moving digital water, and metal bison
Away with them
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
They won't get me all up in arms
In their small backyards
Let the city hall chieftains threaten war
Upon returning from Kinomagewapkong
I have not lost my "petroglyphic perspective."
I have not forgotten to read the stars
before I go to sleep.
The Great Rabbit, Nenabozhoo
a.k.a. Nanabush, walks
confidently in my, wide awake,
sleepy heart
and mind.
I sleep soundly.
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
I thank you Great Porcupine, and Big Skunk,
Thank you Poet Chris from the hamlet of Malone,
You brought me to the park and out I came ...
After visiting the Teaching Rocks ...
The city and all those frantic people
will not be allowed to nest in my mind.
The city and its fast pace living
will one day soon overwhelm me,
I am sure
Memories of the Teaching Rocks
will only
revive me
lovingly embrace me
After visiting the Teaching Rocks
They kindly call to me
Their songs asking me to keep going
until I can return to speak with them
in the flesh
Warm and cold
Living and dying
Under the stars surrounded
by the owls, turtles, snakes,
coyotes, wolves, crickets
turkeys, bears, mosquitoes
and frogs.
After visiting the Teaching Rocks ...
Simon De Abreu
The Pearl Company Gallery and Theatre
Hamilton, Ontario
note: Last summer, in the week of camping at ZenRiver Gardens leading up to PurdyFest #4, one afternoon we crammed four of us (Simon, Melanie, Katherine, me) into my testosteroned Subaru and motored 50 minutes to Petroglyphs Provincial Park. As Simon beautifully recounts here in poetry, the spiritual power of this ancient First Nations site was overwhelmingly transformative. Afterwards, we continued on to the village of Buckhorn, where we sat in an open-air cafe by the locks and ate veggie burgers and sipped imported beer, sharing the powerful spell the Petroglyphs had most willingly cast on all of us.
image from official Ontario Provincial Park site
https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/petroglyphs. click this link to visit the website
I sent Doug an email last week asking him how his daily adventures in the bush were going. He sent me this reply,
hey man ! it's going on 2 weeks in the bush. Nice encounter with a wolf on the full moon. Great footage of beaver kits playing, doe and fawn seen daily, and that great blue heron we saw ended up standing right by our chairs at the fire pit. it's huge up close wow. fish are feeding again. awesome weather!
and my reply back to Doug:
Holy Shit! The change in weather must be stirring the animals around just like it is with humans. Cooler than cool ; )- So many encounters it sounds shamanic - wonder if the visit to the teaching rocks upped your shamanic vibe - full moon wolf/beaver kits playing/ deer, and then the blue heron we watched visiting! Sounds beyond coincidence. I visit a blue heron who fishes under the end of the Marmora dam. I think he recognizes me - I give it a small wave and I believe it gives a slight nod back, even though it has to concentrate on its fishing.
Thanks for sharing!
On the drive out of the park Doug and I decided to visit haunting McGinnis Lake. We didn't take pics, so this is from the website of Wandering Canadians: Three Canadians Wandering the World. Hope they are OK with me posting this. Their website:
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