Cross-Country Skiing: A Primer

 

The gear? Not so important. Where you’re going,

good enough is good enough: the old

three-pin waxless beaters somebody’s thrown

into a dumpster full of rats and moldy

cheese on East 20th Street on a steamy

morning in July — they’re good enough,

the cheap Czech boots, closeout-sale poles, the free

mitts some kid left behind — it’s all just stuff,

it doesn’t matter. Technique? No sweat — you’ll

figure it out. The only failure’s not

to try, and trying (it turns out) is cool,

trying becomes the skill that can’t be taught

and skill becomes an unconsidered feel

for the push, the stride and the glide, and no

one else can tell you what is or isn’t real

when you’re reading the trail, reading the snow.

 

 

© Michael Fleming

Brattleboro, Vermont

March 2011

 

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