Creative Writing
by
aRA Miles
After living on Salt Spring Island in West
Coast Canada for many years, I spent two years in Gold Bridge in the southern
Chilcotin Mountains of BC. This little
town is 100 km west of Lillooet, which is about 2 hours north of Hope. I lived in a little snow clad house by the
bridge over the Bridge River, surrounded by meadows and mountains.
(See photos at bottom of
page.)
I went
there to finish writing two novels. In
the meantime, I submitted many of my short stories and poems for publication
and entered various Canadian and international literary contests. I had not had the opportunity in my busy
life to get these pieces of mine out to the world before, so it was with great
joy that I made use of mountain solitude to bring my work out of the boxes. .
Posted below are titles of some of the pieces
I’ve submitted to various Literary Contests and Journals. The Short Stories link leads to an
overview page, where you can peruse excerpts from each story.
See a Gold Trail Lore ballad poem below
the links.
Links to
literary works:
|
Ballad
of Yukon Pat |
Born
with the White Skin |
|
|
Barb
Wire |
Ego
Eye |
|
|
Re-write |
|
|
|
O |
|
|
|
Abandoned
at Your House |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If
you’re looking for Gold Trail Lore, check out:
Bears
Rrrrr Real
Ballad
of Yukon Pat
&
Barkerville
(below)
From time
to time I’ll be adding more short stories and poems to these pages. If you want to know when they are available,
send me an email. I’d love to hear from
you.
_____________________________________________________
Email: aramiles@bcwireless.com Phone: 206-801-1716
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Following the Gold Dust Trail
Barkerville
My daddy was a truckin' man; he drove a logging truck
And every time he went away, us kids were left home, stuck
with mama nagging, yakking, 'bout cleaning rooms and making beds
and coming home from school each day with something in our heads
And papa's out there driving, singing down the road
and I am left with clothes lines and the laundry load
My brother's playing soldier instead of chopping wood
and my sister's washing dishes, trying to be good
Then papa comes home saying we're going to Barkerville
He's got a lumber order the town wants him to fill
They're puttin' up new buildings and fixin' up the place
He's got to get his bid in to win the haulage race
So in the car we pile with glee, with mama in the front
Papa's telling stories about the days he used to hunt
all these mountains all the time, with pack horse and with mules
and men were wild and strong and free and lived beyond the rules
Mama's serving cool-aid and making sandwiches
and papa's gearing up and down on mountain back switches
Us kids are telling Teddy that soon we will arrive
and then he'll see the best place that ever was alive
'Course mom and dad go talking with big folks off somewhere
We're left beside the wagons to play without a care
My brother is the driver, he whips them horses fast
Us girls are riding shotgun, and every shot's a blast
When we tire of bouncing back of horses we can't see
we go to the museum to see who we can be
My brother goes for soldier, how unusual
My sister goes for miner, and I for dancing gal
We keep it up for hours it seems, running everywhere
Spying out for parents, as we dodge and tear
Eventually they find us, and oh it was so good
Now it's back to car and home and doing what we should
— © aRA Miles, Dec. 04
_____________________________________________________
The
Bridge River Valley, southern Chilcotin Mountains, BC, Canada
Photos
by Lynda Illidge
Gold
Bridge — the town in winter
“….and
that’s all folks!”
Featured
in this photo — the Gold Bridge Hotel
Gateway
to the Gold Dust Trails of the Southern Chilcotin Mountains
Adventure
Tourism at it’s Best!