I learned to smoke that summer in 1956 on the drilling job
\nin the primeval Labrador bush that only bush pilots flew.
\nI learned to roll the tobacco in the paper with one hand while the drill-head
\nslung diamond-tipped hollow steel rods spiraling down fifteen hundred feet
\ninto the cold blue hematite until we started pulling quartz,
\nalways swatting wildly at mosquitoes in mobs the size of the swarm of loneliness
\nthat hung over every stranded man’s head: ex-cons and guys looking for a stake,
\nand students\u2014we thrust bone and sinew into the labour of winching
\nthe heavy drill-sled through the unyielding woods
\nfrom geologist-determined site to lonely site\u2014
\nand set up the rig and and drilled for a week or two,
\npulled the rods every twenty feet to retrieve the rock core samples
\nthat we laid out in wooden books to tell the story of what lay beneath,
\nnursed the Perkins diesel engine though unremitting heavy use
\nthen tore down tower and machine like a frantic patrol in enemy territory,
\nand moved on, set up and drilled twelve hour shift after twelve hour shift
\nalternated nights and days with the other crew\u2014
\nand boiled syrupy coffee over diesel oil that sent up fumes
\nthat overwhelmed the blue haze of tobacco smoke,
\nas we snarffed down sardine and tinned corned beef sandwiches,
\nthen more hurry up and wait, and tales of death and dirty sex in Korea
\nand the triumph of Canuck privates and corporals
\nwho amazingly lived better than Brit captains and fought better than Yanks,
\nand the only softnesses were cookhouse meals and penny poker nights
\nand cigarettes; the rest was woods and rock and steel and solitude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My first real summer job during university. #1083 Continue reading