Yellow Slicker [1967]
Two separate touring parties, one approaching and the other leaving Hurricane Deck . In foreground is Wildcat Stream. In background at right, Bridal Veil Falls and at left, American Falls
From a postcard in the collection of the Niagara Falls Public Library
smelled slightly sour
perhaps oily –
definitely stained
The rubber boots
were too large
for my child-sized feet
We stood in line
my brother and me
between slicker-ed parents
Slowly we walked down
metal stairs into a cave –
rush of water loud in my ears
damp, moldy smelling walls,
water trickling down, looked
at the floor to ensure firm footing
until we reached the look-out.
Cave of the Winds, they said,
strange to a child of seven
whistling and howling winds
blew through, spraying my face,
a fine sheen of water soaking me
Peered out from behind a sheet
of water, thundering past cave
opening to the rocks below
I squeezed mother’s hand
feeling the power it yielded,
yellow slicker enveloped me
Julie A. Dickson is originally from Buffalo, NY. Her father’s family was from Guelph and Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada in the late 1800’s, they founded the Culverhouse Canning Factory there. Dickson lived near Lake Erie and Niagara Falls until her early teens, when her family relocated to Massachusetts. Always the lakes-girls, her poems often reflect in memories of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and visiting the falls. Her poems appears in many journals including Ekphrastic Review, Misfit, Open Door and others; full length works on Amazon. Dickson has been a guest editor, past poetry board member, is an advocate for captive elephants and shares her home with two rescued cats.
Julie A. Dickson was the guest editor of the Ekphrastic Review challenge to write a poem inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s painting Niagara, 1857. See a page about ekphrastic poetry of Niagara, including the poems from the Ekphrastic Review