Balfour by Gun Lake

Balfour is everything you want a place to be. However, every muscle you flex to get there will be exhausted. As you bask in its serene, wild beauty recuperating, the rotating earth is your enemy. You cannot stay on Balfour forever, and once you face this fact, your only exit is to paddle up the labyrinthian creek that brought you. Pushing against the current, you are sure the creek is now shallower and narrower than it was before—the bends more acute. The dams have been built up since morning, and with the sweltering afternoon heat, the sun has brought the flies. When finally you reach the portage to the other lake, your dead-weight motor feels like lead, and paddling has reduced your arms to reeds. You nevertheless carry your gear and your canoe across the root covered distance to the other lake. Here, finally, you can put the weight of the motor to use and feel relieved that the work is over. But as the wake goes backwards toward the path to Balfour, you wonder if there is any chance that you could do the same.

Gun Lake is based in Ypsilanti, MI.

gunlakemusic.com
Facebook
Twitter