Everyone Has a Somewhere North of Lac La Ronge

In incredible weather,
The local melancholy
At it being September

Is already palpable,
But the international
Scholars and students gathered

To deconstruct constructions
Of the extraordinary
Bodies labeled disabled

Are delighted with such gold
Afternoons and mild breezes.
Educated and earnest

Intellects are getting drunk
On talking as well as drink,
Are mating more ways than one,

But one slips off as early
As conversations allow
To drive a rental car north,

And further north, to places
Where ranks of engine warmers
Stand ready to be plugged in

Outside of scruffy motels
In the stunted, golden birch,
To where well-maintained roads end

And even hard-used, all-wheel
Rental vehicles can’t go.
Is it at all ironic

That an extraordinary
Body enabled this soul
To attend this conference

On disability but
Also marked the ultima
Thule of its own escape?

Perched at a rugged trailhead
By a mosquito-plagued lake,
A small and happy creature

Contemplates its own limits,
Thinking, it’s not having but
Reaching them that’s rewarding.