Dog Holler

I lived down in Dog Holler most 'a 15 years. I miss it now, like I'd miss my hand, if'n somebody cut off my hand. Like I'd miss my foot, somebody cut off my foot.

I close my eyes, I still see the moon comin' up over Dog Holler Mountain. All big and white and beamin' down love juice all over them hills and trees. All over me. It stuck to me, that love juice. Ain't nothin' gonna wash it off now.

Biggest question I get asked up here, "Do you like livin' in Vermont?" Well, I like livin'. So, sure I like livin' in Vermont. But there ain't no redbud here. Ain't no dogwood. Ain't no sarviceberry. Ain't hardly no spring. Spring up here test your faith. That's resurrection, I s'pose. Can be a stickin' point for some folks. Me? I don't care whether it come out a seed, an egg, a womb or Christ's tomb. It's all the birth 'a love in the world. Up here, you just gotta wait longer 'n look harder. You remember I told you that: sometimes you gotta wait longer 'n look harder.

You can't hardly forget spring in Dog Holler, even you been through it but only once. Flowers everywhere. Locust tree stink up the air in the spring, all them flowers hangin' down. You ever seen a honey locust tree? Big thorns growin' all up the trunk. Oddest lookin' thing. If God had made the Tree 'a Knowledge a honey locust tree, ain't none of us be wearin' any clothes right now. I think God wanted Eve to eat that apple. Been easy enough get her to stop.

Anyway, I love all them trees down there. Shagbark hickory. Black walnut. Butternut. Horse chestnut. White oak. Red oak. Pin oak. My heart still want oak. Hawthorn, cedar, juniper. Virgin hemlock. You got the patience to walk to 'em, them trees'll show you some power. Copper beech, sycamore. Liriodendron tulipifera. Now she's a beauty, ain't no thorns on her. Roll around right nice in your mouth, don't it? Liriodendron tulipifera. I was in love with a whole grove 'a yellow poplar over on Dog Holler Mountain. I watched that patch 'a mountain turn yellow every fall.

And in the summer, chicory grow so thick, sit on my porch and watch the hay pasture turn hazy blue. First lark I ever saw looked right up at me outta that hazy blue. This minute, I can't think 'a nothin' more beautiful 'n that lark. 'Less maybe it's the mockin' bird singin' at night. Prettier 'n a silver flute, that is. Beauty drippin' outta that bird, right into me.

And it weren't just the trees and the birds, neither. Was the people, too. 'Cause I showed up 'bout as queer as a 3 dollar bill. People just let me be who I was and let me become whatever I was gonna become.
 
I remember the first time I drove up Dog Holler Road. First mile all in the woods. Then, bustin' outta the trees, this scene open up before me like a song outta my heart. Mountains all around, pastures full 'a thick green grass, dogwood in bloom, big white house with porch all around it. 

Like God was settin' a trap for me. He was. Settin' a trap. And I was so happy gettin' caught in it. Shoot, I like livin'. I wonder what trap God is settin' for me now? I guess, I wanna know, I'm jus' gonna have to wait longer 'n look harder. You remember I told you that.