BALLAD OF BERME ROAD

In the vast cathedral of the valley: Green hills, blue sky, Sun pouring down like honeyed rain First: to remember the spot, To find it on the map and, wearing boots, Checking the pocket watch, clutching the vials- Labelled precisely, rattling hollow in the back seat- Walk to the bank, avoiding the brambles, The stumbles. the gleaming poison ivy leaves Reaching like innocent hands to stroke my knees. Wade into the swift stream, slowly, not to slip. Avoid stagnant pools. Then,

The three legged deer was sleeping in the backyard last night, huddled against the south wall of the house on a patch of bare ground near...

By way of introduction, here’s an interview, excerpted and edited, from the book “Chopping Wood” by David Bernz. I was a part of a...

Letter to a Friend, December 1983: Next summer, David and I want to take our little row boat [we still have the same one; a ship brought it over here from Europe for us] from Saugerties, New York, a hundred miles up the Hudson river, all the way up to New Brunswick, Canada, along the coast of Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Want to come? May 31 We left Saugerties after rolling in on a bus from Poughkeepsie in the pouring rai

photo: running downwind [ Dave and Sarah, the nautical nomads, have just returned from a three year sojourn of cruising around Europe in...

Episode 1 Readying the "Rainbow Warrior" for Sea, Winter 1984 Just back to the Hudson Valley after their epic summer trip to Canada in...

notes on a future post/place holder With heartfelt thanks to Allan Goldhammer, Paul Tobin, and Chief Vincent Mann October 15, 2021 [ this is a reminder to me that I intend to write this account at some point in the future] Notes: include letters to Jack Tchen and Akwesasne Notes

The further adventures of Manzanita and Crew photo: "Manzanita" and her crew INTRODUCTION: Rounding Lindesnes The day we sailed around Lindesnes, the cape on the southernmost tip of Norway, the wind was blowing fiercely from the northwest. We wouldn't have left the safety of Hidra harbor if the wind were unfavorable, but even running before this much wind was tricky in these unprotected waters. photo: leaving Hidra harbor Friends escorted us in a motor launch as we sailed ou

photo: Dave getting ashore from "Sea Gull", Andratx harbor. The cat is not pleased. Foreword (or Backword?) written in1992, Ulster...

Foreword: The Story So Far The title Dave suggested for an account of our travels, "Rowing Against the Wind" was meant to be ironic. Not that it didn't happen from time to time. There were many times when we drifted along in the heavy lifeboat in light airs under the ever present sun, and there were various other adventures during our second summer of open boat cruising along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Our compulsion to paddle around the world's harbors in an

photo: taking in the view. Embroidery by Sarah. Autumn, 1981 Introduction: [letter to a friend, Virginia Sands] Dear Gini- Here it is,...

photo: the original sail rig Why did we do it? What blend of nihilism, recklessness, whimsy and angst motivated this journey? One might call it Jack Kerouac meets Diogenes meets the Swiss Family Robinson. July 1981 Letter to a Friend: David and I are still traveling around together. We recently spent most of our money buying a boat. But it's not a reasonable type of boat. It's more like a small pulling boat, a sixteen foot lifeboat off of a Norwegian freighter. We plan to

[Warning: this message is unabashedly pro-Christmas, in a Pagan sort of way.] Growing up in an informally Secular Humanist but culturally...

"Oh, Baby, Baby, it's a wild world It's hard to get by just upon a smile. Oh, Baby, Baby, it's a wild world And I'll always remember you...

photo: Sarah on "L'Amie" Jan. 13 Letter home: Dear Dad- This is another quick "I survived" message to let you know that David and I are...

To set the scene, we were young. I was 21 and David 33, and we had known each other for barely a year. Casting our lot together, we were...

Prince William Sound, Alaska June-July 1979 [age 20] [Wilderness kayaking course with NOLS, the "National Outdoor Leadership School"....

July 5, 1978. Prince William Sound, Alaska. Travelling by kayak. "Four killer whales intrigued and terrified us at Point Nowell- so close...

[An episode from “The Wonderbread Kids Play Cowboy”. Our protagonists, teenaged lovers “Jenny” and “Bruce”, are sharecropping on a...

[This chapter of my life took place in the fall of 1979. I had been crewing on the environmental educational sailboat “Clearwater”,...