Living Mountain A Vermont Story in Photos and Poems

By: John H. Clarke

Published by Five Springs Farm, 2018-02-28

After returning from Vietnam, the author follows his wife's lead, leaving the tumult of Boston for quiet woods on the spine of the Green Mountains. As they are learning to manage the challenges of life 14 miles from the nearest store and stoplight, they turn to each other. As parents, kids and grandkids return to live on an old farm, they gather what they need from each other. Nature is their constant companion, in the driving cold of winter, the green rush of spring, summer's soft bounty and autumn's foreboding. Animals interfere unpredictably. This book is one story, stretching over the seasons and over 40 years. But it is composed of very short stories in the form of poems about events that make the family grow and adapt. In such a small setting, growth occurs in small steps. Death arrives without disguise. Each poem is matched with a photograph of places on the farm where those events occurred. The photos give readers clear pictures of astounding but sometimes harsh beauty. Living Mountain shows how one family came to treasure relative isolation, even as the young take jobs in towns and cities and return daily to live among each other.