Turn Around Time

Turn Around Time is a book-length poem graced by Justin Gibbens' fine illustrations and published by Mountaineers Books.

"Turn around time" is a mountaineering term for that pre-designated clock moment when, no matter what--and with a view toward peril--climbers begins their return to base camp.  Figuratively speaking, it refers to a pivotal possibility in our lives--that of personal transformation, of a return to sources after decades of outward travel.

Turn Around Time, in a sense, happened to me over the course of two weeks.  The music of the poem began to play inside my head, and I rode along on its propulsive rhythm happily to the end.  It's a journey through quintessential and iconic Northwest mountain landscapes--the poetry of a hiker and climber who returns to the same trails, river valleys, and peaks year after year.  It offers a poetic take on the qualities of foot travel and of, among other things, birds, bats, fungi, flora, and fellow travelers.