Park Poet
Hungry Horse News
Glacier National Park Ranger - Naturalist Doug Follett's venture into poetry started with a trip to Sperry Chalet a few years ago after an 18-year absence from its perch above Lake McDonald.
Follett, who has worked in the Park for 45 years, was hiking to the Chalet when he spotted a mountain goat that seemed to be the same goat he'd seen on his last visit.
"He was standing there looking at me as if to say 'where have you been?'" he said.
This prompted Follett to think about how little the chalet had changed in his absence and how little it had really changed since it was built in 1914.
"I was impressed by the fact that all the personalities of people had been there over the years and how neat it is that in 2005 you can go to place like that and have the same experiences," he said. "Every person that goes there leaves their spirit behind … You can be there with the spirits of the chalet."
Follett said someone told him to write a poem about this and so he did.
The result is called "The Spirits of Sperry."
Come with me to Sperry Chalet
Where the grizzlies roam
And the white goats play
Where the marmots whistle
Splits the Sky
And the Eagles shadow
Tells you why.
Walk where wolverines
Play in the snow
On a warm spring day
When the waterfalls
Go with a rush
To the lake below
And on to find their destiny
So far away-in the quiet sea.
Gather at night
When the day is done
And the firelight
Laughs at the setting sun
And join all the ghosts
Of days gone by
Who come out to dance
When the moon is high.
And as you leave
When it's time to go
And you stop to wave
From the trail below
I think you'll see
With the Sperry crew
Your spirit-
Waving back at you.
"That's what I wanted to get at, to mention the experiences that everyone has had," he said.
Many of his rhymes, as he calls them, are inspired by the simple things around him.
He recites them smoothly and carefully as if he's spinning a story for the listener. In fact, most come with their own story told beforehand about when and where he was inspired to write the ryhme.
Follett was prompted to take up his pen again later while he was in the midst of helping the Travel Channel film a show in Glacier. Someone asked him to tell one outstanding experience he's had while working in Glacier.
"I couldn't think of it, so I told a bear story," he said. "But I thought 'why did I not have one' when it's possible to have so many."
He said when one lives in Glacier you begin to take these once in a lifetime experiences for granted when most people have only one.
He began to think about all the experiences he'd had hiking from Logan Pass to Granite Chalet. His goal was to again write something to help him remember.
Then one fall day when he was driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road he saw a family of mountain goats framed perfectly by bushes of mountain ash berries. He said it was different than before just because the Park has a different feeling in the fall.
"After all these years, here was something that's a once in a lifetime experience," he said.
So, he wrote about it in "Come Back in September."
And walk with me
On the Garden Wall
On an autumn day
When the wild geese call
As they head south
For the winter stay
In far away places
Like Uruguay
Walk with me
And see the goats
On the mountainside
In their new white coats
Standing bright
Against the sky
Looking down on you and I
Come to the place
Where the eagles fly
And tumble wildly
Through the sky
Giving truth
To Ancient words
That sometimes
Love-is for the birds
Walk with me
Where big horns climb
And do a dance
As old as time
Banging heads
'Till they might die
And never even
Asking why
Come with me
Where the Sentry's whistle
Warns the world
Of a deadly missile
Not on two legs
Nor on four
But form the sky
With a sudden roar
That takes a life
In a single breath
And is gone again
On wings of death
Walk with me
Where the grizzlies roam
And see the places
They call home
Alpine meadows
Flower filled
Hanging valleys
Glacier chilled
Lords of everything
They see
The world around
And you and me
Walk with me
When north winds blow
And whisper
Of the coming snow
Tossing golden leaves
On high
As summer bids
A sad goodbye
These and other things
You'll see-
If you will come
And walk with me-!
"I took an experience that many, many people had and picked out one and put it to rhyme," he said.
Follett said the length of the rhyme effects how long it takes him to write it. But he recites them with ease, no matter the length.
Right now he's working on a few that aren't going perfectly.
"I might be trying to put two different things together. Maybe that's the problem," he said. "I don't take credit for them, they just come."
Follett has been approached about publishing his rhymes in a book, but hasn't yet. For now he just passes out copies to anyone he meets on the trail.
Follett has a long history with the Park.
He was born in Fernie B.C. in 1926 and first came to the Park in 1927. His father brought him to East Glacier while he helped run the Great Northern depot for the summer.
Follett said he and his mother spent their time socializing with the old timers and the Blackfeet Tribe.
"I learned to walk in the Glacier Park Lodge and my mother who is 102 years old reminds me of this every day. She says 'you know you've been in the Park a long time' and I never argue with her," he said.
He first worked in the Park at age 16 pulling gooseberry bushes for the White Pine Blister Rust Control Program. He began his career as a seasonal ranger naturalist in 1960.
He spent 11 years working at the Hungry Horse Dam, for a combined 57 years working for the Department of the Interior. He also spent time teaching American history at Columbia Falls High School.
As he looks back, his poetry is a reflection of his time spent in Glacier and that of many others.
"'Sperry' is for the people who have been to Sperry-to appreciate the idea of that," he said. "(The one about) Garden Wall is to make note of the once in a lifetime experiences that anyone can have an a walk on the Wall. Which is what Glacier and our National Parks are all about."