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To
my old English Professors
at Montana State University
For
Ski-boys & Ski-girls
everywhere
With
Special Thanks
to the earlier "frontier justice"
Jackson Hole Ski School
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Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY?
You've heard of cowboy poetry, written by everybody and their dog who's supposedly a real working cowboy; well, there's one poet parallel who makes his living horse-back during the summer, ski-back during the winter, 'packing snow for summer irrigation.' This man has created the first-n-only brand of ski-boy poetry . . . to enthuse the thousands of well-educated skiers he skis with, to divert their attention, and to show them how a working ski-boy's life really is on the winter range. Few English professors make expert skiers, and few expert skiers appreciate classic poetry: . . . let's bridge the gap between the intellectual and the physical--
why not take the classics of Poe, Frost, Service, Coleridge, and more, and rewrite them for skiers? One good poem deserves another--in this collection:
Rossignol Ski
The Craven
Powder and Ice
A Chair Ride Before Christmas
The Turn Not Taken
The Cremation of Pamela McGee
How Do I Ski Thee?
A Turn Beneath a Turn
&
The Rime of the Ancient Schi Lehrer
Skiing is poetry in powder--get some rhythmic versed tracks light-n-dry with seasoned ski instructor GARY HEINS, our first-n-only maverick ski-boy poet parallel, straight from the Heins-Quarters of the SWINGIN' G WINTER RANGE. Finally, some steep-n-deep poetry, . . . poetry you can plant your face in.
GARY HEINS
SKIBOY POETRY
"For all we ever earn or just yearn. . . is but a turn . . . beneath a turn."
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Another
SWINGIN’ G BOOK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RIMES . . . OF AN
ANCIENT SKI TEACHER
--Heinsian
SKIBOY
POETRY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~GARY HEINS~
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RIMES OF AN
ANCIENT SKI TEACHER
--Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
by GARY HEINS
Published by:
SWINGIN’ G BOOKS
PO Box 784
Saint Johns, Arizona 85936
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in critical reviews.
Copyright © 1979-95 Gary Lee Heins LCCN
97-091091
P-book
ISBN 10
1-882369-41-6
ISBN 13
978-1-882369-41-6
E-book
ISBN 10
1-882369-40-8
ISBN 13
978-1-882369-40-9
#
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DISCLAIMER:
Good ski-boy poetry can be dangerous stuff, as it tends to be far more physical, mental, . . . and emotional . . . than other kinds of poetry. It can be more dangerous than a dad watching and cheer-ing his son at a wrestling meet. You might want to do some warm-up stretching exercises before reading some of these poems. The author and publisher cannot be held responsible for injuries suffered, by a reader . . . or from a reader, . . .
whether physical, mental, or emotional, while reading these poems.
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"All Writes Reversed."
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RIMES . . . OF AN
ANCIENT SKI TEACHER
--Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
Introduction--What is Ski-boy Poetry? . . . . . . . .11
Rossignol Ski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
The Craven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Powder & Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
A Chair Ride Before Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Turn Not Taken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
The Cremation of Pamela McGee . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
How Do I Ski Thee? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
A Turn Beneath a Turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Rime of the Ancient Schi Lehrer . . . . . . . . . 57
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10 -- Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
What Is Ski-boy Poetry? -- 11
What Is
Ski-boy Poetry?
And who is this man who writes it?--
Gary Heins is a diverse character, who lives in the Rocky Mountain West, wrangling horses in the summer, teaching skiers in the winter. As a working ski-boy, he herds skiers to the snow the same way ranchers have to manage their grass--
"Water can get real scarce in the summer months out west," Heins says, "so we work real hard all winter long packing the snow to see if we can't get it to last a little longer for summer irrigation and watering of the stock." Finding skiing and riding to be very much like each other both biomechani-cally and psychologically, he uses his firm and gentle horsemanship skills not only to keep in harmony with his skis, but also to help others find balance on their own. Part of Heins's mission in spreading the good turns means waxing philoso-phic . . . and creating ski-boy poetry, to enthuse the thousands of well-educated skiers he skis with, to divert their attention the same way you would a broncy colt's, and ultimately to show
12 -- Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
them how a working ski-boy's life really is on the Swingin' G Winter Range.
While everybody and their dog is still just writing cowboy poetry, Heins re-does for skiers the old, practically worn-out classics of Poe, Frost, Service, Coleridge, and more. And re-writing these classics, usually in true parody form, is not as easy as getting first tracks in virgin powder; it is more like being the second ski-boy on a powder-eights team in fierce wind-pack. Much more busy writing his Heinsian how-to manuals on Downhill
Skiing, Western Riding, and Western Swing
dancing, he averaged less than one poem per year in writing for this collection. "I wanted real bad to do a Keats poem, 'Ode On a Grecian Turn,' but, after a few years, 'Skiing is truth, truth skiing' was about as far as I got," says Heins. "I always had trouble understanding poetry as an English Lit major at college; rewriting the stuff helps me better understand the originals--and maybe I can help a few more sedentary English professors understand downhill skiing. . . . Hey, wasn't it Edgar Allan Poe who said 'One good poem deserves another'?"
The more you know about downhill skiing, the more you may understand and appreciate Heins-
ian SKI-BOY POETRY, which may have started out as a teaching ploy: during a ski lesson, there may be some down time, times when a true teacher may not want to expound more nuts-n-bolts information--a student taking a turn for the
What Is Ski-boy Poetry? -- 13
verse, the class waiting for someone picking up debris, a power-outage on the chair-lift--the per-fect excuse for a teacher to entertain with say some ski-boy poetry that will enthuse, divert, and show.
Beyond that, it was always a big hit at raucous ski-school parties; but now it is available to all who wish to read or hear it--this collection is long overdue. --One time, before many knew this stuff even existed, Gary thought he would recite some at a regular cowboy poetry gathering in the Mil-lion Dollar Cowboy Bar--after all, it was Jackson Hole, Wyoming, premier ski-town, USA: when he got almost zero applause for reciting "The Craven," his then-most-requested poem, he just smiled, "Now I know how Elvis felt when he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry." . . .
While there have been several poets laureate in our literary history, as well as "poets lariat," Gary Heins is thee first-n-only . . . "poet parallel"; he's the original light-n-dry ski-boy poet, writing thousands of vertical feet of steep-n-deep and rhythmic poetry--poetry you can really plant your face in.
--Jane Dantz
14 -- Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
Rossignol Ski -- 15
A parody of Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee,"
"Rossignol Ski" is Heins's first poem, conceived in Red Lodge Montana, in 1979, his first year teaching skiing, when he was up late "once upon a mid-night dreary" trying to rewrite "The Raven" and got stuck. Appropriately first, it simply describes his love for the sport; and, although he realizes it's not his best poem, it got him started and ensured he would write the rest that follow. (Heins was skiing on K2 skis at the time, and currently he uses Harts; but it gives him an excuse to frequent the cozy low-lit ambience of the ski-lodge bar in the evenings.) Rossignol Ski
It was many and many a snow ago,
In a ski shop by the steep,
That a long board there lived
whom you may know
By the name of
Rossignol Ski;
16 -- Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
And this long board--she lived
with no other thought
Than to ski
and be skied by me.
She was a child, and I was a child,
In this ski shop
by the steep;
But we loved a love that was more than love
--I and my Rossignol Ski--
With a love that the wing-ed seraphs of Heaven Coveted her
and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago, Above the ski shop,
on the steep,
A rock came out of the slope by white, Gouging my Rossignol Ski;
So that some high-born businessman came And bore her away from me,
To nail her up
in a ski-lodge bar
Near the ski shop
by the steep.
The Angels,
not half so happy in Heaven,
When envying her and me:
Rossignol Ski -- 17
--Yes! that was the reason
(as all men know
In this ski shop
by the steep)
That the rock came out of the slope, gouging and breaking
And killing!
my Rossignol Ski.
But our love--
it was stronger by far
than the love
Of those who were older than we,
Of many far slower than we,--
And neither the Angles in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the steep
Can ever dissever
my sole from the soul
Of the Beautiful
Rossignol Ski:--
For the snow never seems to cease
bringing me dreams
Of the Beautiful Rossignol Ski;
And I show such sad eyes since
the tips will not rise
On my Beautiful
Rossignol Ski;
And so, all the night-slide,
18 -- Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
I sit down
by the side
Of my Darling, my Darling,
my Life, and my Ride,
In our Ski-Lodge Bar
here by the steep--
Where I weep . . .
by the side of the steep.
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Rossignol Ski -- 19
20 -- Heinsian SKI-BOY POETRY
The Craven -- 21
Heins had wanted to rewrite "The Raven" for over two years now when he finally suffered a badly broken upper-arm in late 1981 just before Christmas. It was a real eggbeater ski accident at Bridger Bowl between teaching college students.
One of his English professors in Bozeman right then commented, "I told you skiing is dangerous, Heins--that's why I don't ski"; Heins immediately looked up the word "coward" in his thesaurus and foun