Your Rocky Spine

Listen while you read: It's Canada Day!

I was lost in the lakes
And the shapes that your body makes
That your body makes, that your body makes
That your body makes

And the mountains said I could find you here
They whispered the snow and the leaves in my ear
I traced my finger along your trails
And your body was the map, I was lost in it

Floating over your rocky spine
The glaciers made you and now you're mine

I was moving across your frozen veneer
The sky was dark but you were clear
Could you feel my footsteps?
And would you shatter? Would you shatter? Would you?

With your soft fingers between my claws
Like purity against resolve
I could tell, then and there, we were formed from the clay
And came from the rocks for the earth to display

They told me to be careful up there
Where the wind blows a venomous rage through your hair
They told me to be careful up there
Where the wind rages through your hair

~  Anthony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers)

Happy Canada Day! Let's all pretend that Justin Trudeau is our President and that we have universal healthcare!

I discovered Great Lake Swimmers a couple of years ago and fell in love immediately. Like many listeners, when I first heard this song, I thought it was just a clever love song. I pictured a man tracing the curve of a woman's back, suggestively sliding his fingers over the spinal discs. While I knew that Great Lake Swimmers was a Canadian band, I missed the metaphor. "Your Rocky Spine" is also about the landscape of Canada! The song appears on an earlier album, 2007's Ongiara. ("Ongiara" is either the native name for "Niagara," or it's the name of the ferry that would transport G.L.S. to the recording studio. Or both.)

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Canada. To celebrate, all Canada's national parks are offering free admission! Lucky for me . . . I'll be visiting several of them in the Northwest Provinces next week. We expect crowds, but all our lodging is booked, so we'll be fine. We are also expecting to be awed by the landscape and wildlife that we will view on our journey. The Canadian Rockies, the Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, the glaciers, forests, and alpine meadows . . . a feast for the eyes! Camera and binoculars ready!

I have visited Canada in the past, but only Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Niagara Falls. This will be my first visit to the northwestern part of the country. Cross another one off the bucket list.

But first, I should probably start packing. Two days and counting . . .