weather | disaster by michael leeb
slippage
the ‘ mountain that moves ’ is the local indigenous name for turtle mountain . the centre peak collapsed due to a number of climatic conditions . above average rain and snowfall , strong winds and a rapid ice thaw within mountaintop fissures destabilised one of turtle mountain ’ s three peaks , causing a landslide that burried the town of frank on april 29, 1903. see the report on the great landslide at frank , alta ., 1903, by r c mcconnell and r w brock , edmonton geological society . edmonton , alberta . 2003.
Gravity having kinetic potential alone awaits an early morning Spring, of unseasonable rains the disparity of temperatures, an icy thaw among fissures, and the cold air inversion of a gale force wind.
An early morning storm unknown to most with a town asleep below and the mountain that moves above, now sets into motion
a landslide
of epic proportions.
Dust and boulders, slide rocks and mud That slip across the flats of the river valley below.
A mud slip that slides across marsh and meadow and runs down the slope, then across the valley beneath.
Velocity having destructive capacity alone won’t await
^
the mountain that moves and a storm set in motion All over
a mere single moment.
Limestone boulders a phantasm of features
of varying mass, a not distant past.
The loosely bound mudstone, an amorphous mass; the conglomerate of pebbles, gravel and silt; a textural beauty of deep ochre colour.
11
Geomorphology; a metaphor for change
of bounded stone at the perimeter.
now only
perhaps
a lithic memorial amidst the tragedy, of a not distant past.
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