More Walt McDonald

Walt McDonald Climbing the Divide in Montana Snow swirls past the Divide like birthdays. Four days of April without a cloud, easy hiking, but finally winter's back, legend of Montana blizzards we faced before children. Now, even they are middle aged, snug in cities lit by a billion kilowatts. Here comes the howl, ten thousand acres of pines flouncing in wind gusts. Soon, doors will slam in other cabins, elk grazing downhill will turn from the gale and disappear. Our car will be up to the hubs by morning, snowshoes useful at last, worth hauling thousands of miles to trudge cross country, puffing, stopping often at sixty five, tightening straps to climb, to see the other side. Walt McDonald has had work in American Poetry Review, The American Scholar, The Atlantic Monthly, London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, Poetry, The Sewanee Review, and The Southern Review . His most recent book is All Occasions, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2000). Four of his books received Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.