The Poetry, Images and Memories of Karen Waring Sykes

By Karen Sykes

Writing was a necessary function in Karen Sykes' life. For her it was a driving force to help her understand the trials she faced throughout life. She was an avid hiker, runner, photographer and outdoor lover, often hiking more than 30 miles a week, even into her 70th year. She hiked to find peace when life became a burden, and to remind herself of the joys in life. Much of her writing was about hiking or the outdoors, but many of her poems were also about the darkest parts of her life. The poems selected here are shining examples of her ongoing attempt to reconcile the complexity in her life through the power of her words. Also included are a few of her photographs, and memories of her close friends. Bob Morthorst and Erika Klimecky created this memorial book in honor of Karen Sykes and her love of writing. This selection of poems have not been published before. Karen was lost while hiking in June of 2014.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781682223086

Book preview

Acknowledgements

Memorial Tribute

From Karen’s Memorial Service

Born Karen Dalby in Shelton, WA on September 3, 1943, she grew up along Hood Canal and in Edmonds. Karen’s first love was writing. She discovered poetry while in high school and became an accomplished poet under the name of Karen Waring. She contributed poems to several editions of Litmus Journal and published two books of her own, Childs Poem and Poems, 1970 and Exposed to the Elements, 1976.

Then the mountains captured her heart. Karen began writing lyrical trip reports accompanied by her amazing photographs that resulted in legions of followers. She became a member of the Mountaineers and hiked and/or ran at least a couple times a week for the remainder of her life. Over the course of her more than 30 years as a hiker, Karen was a trip leader for hundreds of people and a virtual trip leader through her writings for many thousands of people.

Karen wrote numerous trip reports for Pack and Paddle Magazine and for Signpost magazine. In 1996, she was invited to write a weekly hiking column for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer where she developed a wide audience who eagerly awaited the Thursday paper and followed her into the mountains.

Karen wrote Hidden Hikes in Western Washington, 2002, and co-wrote Best Wildflower Hikes, 2004, both published by the Mountaineers Press. After a successful 13 year run as a newspaper columnist, Karen embarked on yet another phase as a blogger. She contributed articles to the Seattle Times and became a regular writer for Seattle Backpacker Magazine as well Visit Rainier.

Through it all Karen continued to hike into the mountains with her camera. On her return home she was compelled to write about her experiences and share her photographs through her articles and on Flickr. She loved words and was unbeatable at Scrabble. She loved playing Boogie Woogie on the piano. Her passing leaves us with warm memories and gratitude for her wit, charm, sense of humor, her endless energy, and desire to see what came next along a trail.

Karen is survived by her daughter Annette Shirey of Tucson, Arizona, loving partner, Robert Morthorst of West Seattle, WA and her beloved cats.

Foreword

Karen’s life was colorful and thorny. She was married four times and went by four last names over the course of her 70 years. She had what some would call a poet’s life. At the age of six her mother (Edith) left her in Montana with her grandmother (Grandma Loomis) while her parents worked out issues in their own marriage. This traumatic beginning led to a life filled with insecurities. She often made choices out of fear of loneliness or abandonment. She was deeply connected to her father (Fritz), an artist, musician and shipyard worker.

After a seamy early life, entangled in a caustic lifestyle and hard times, she suffered a major loss in 1979, when her lover (Stephen) was killed in a car accident, ironically, by a drunk driver. It was then that she stopped drinking and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. She would freely tell you that she was a recovering alcoholic; thirty-five years without drinking was a special point of pride for her. After that loss, she discovered the mountains. Monte Cristo became her haven, the first place where she discovered peace in nature. She joined the Mountaineers and dove headlong into hiking, snowshoeing, scrambling and climbing.

Writing was always an essential part of her core being. Karen had to write. Her poetry helped her find her way through life and better understand her past. Many of her poems describe the tumultuous life she led. In her writing process, she meticulously pored over words and phrases, often agonizing over an individual word until a poem said exactly what she meant. Karen was a sensitive soul and needed to bare the emotional upheavals in her life through her poetry. She was an active participant in life, not just a spectator, which she proved through her vivacious, inquisitive way of encountering the world. She never met a stranger and could talk with anyone, even if he looked as if he’d just escaped an asylum, (or so the story goes).

When we began this project, Bob handed me 358 poems on paper. From those we’ve selected these seventy-seven shining examples of her ongoing attempt to reconcile the complexity in her life through the power of words. In addition, several of her close friends, coworkers and people from her past have included words in memory of Karen. They are interspersed among her poems throughout this book. She touched so many people through her hiking, photography, friendly, approachable demeanor, and particularly her writing. Those of us who met Karen along a trail or in her weekly columns are mostly unaware of the deeper roots of her poetry. The memories included here will recall the lighthearted, lively side of Karen’s life that most of us knew.

With that in mind the following seems the appropriate poem to begin this memorial book. These are her words.

-Erika

My Damned Life

My damned

Life is the

One I was

Given

Not to end

Until

My purpose is

Driven

Like tracks of small animals

Across the snow

The snowy roads

That flow

Do not stutter

Knowing when

To leave the road

For the wildness

We have chosen

The path to the

Eye of the storm

Where no names are

Given

Karen hiking Bean Basin, Teanaway area of central Cascade Mountains. Photo by Valerie Nelson

Seasons and Outdoors

Karen was well known for her detailed eye. She would see the tiniest things along a trail and stop to photograph them. This section includes her poems that reference changing seasons, specifically in the outdoors. Throughout