This poem was in Dead Point Magazine which I got for free at The Warehouse Rock Gym in Oly. I love it.

"Wanted:
Looking for a rock climber/belay-partner/lover:

I could be your energetic, romantic,
Moonlight walking, intimate talking,
Totally easygoing,
Warm you up on a cold morning, 5'9" brunette arete.

But if you're anything like me, you won't want it that easy.

We both like to live life a little dangerously
Which is why, you'll see
I can be your 5.14d -- in fact,
That's exactly what will keep you coming back to me.

I can be your crimper/sloper/side-pull/gaston/
undercling/two-finger pocket.
I have curves, smooth lines, and a well-featured face.
You can mantle, lie back, and hand-jam me.
I have clean placements that will still get your hands dirty.

Looking for a rock climber/belay-partner/lover:

I enjoy awkward stemming problems
And find a certain pleasure in silences.

You get your thrills from run-outs.
I get my thrills from running out in the rain barefoot,
And running out of gas in the snow,
Hundreds of miles from home.
I like the adventure,
The inconvenience,
The change of pace.

I have problems,
Commitment issues.
I give up at the last possible moment.
I'm afraid of getting in over my my head
And afraid of being tied down,
But I'm not afraid of being tied up.

Knot practice at camp four:
You'll tie me up in figure eights.
I'll teach you the figure four.
And we'll do it to stay warm.

High above Katmandu,
We can work on dynamic moves.
We can practice doing them statically.
And feel the electricity jump from body to body.

We can practice on cliff sides and tables
In bivouacs
On crash pads
And dangling from cables.

We can have back country love affairs.
We can be port-a-ledge paramours.

We can make falling feel like flying.

There are two kinds of falling,
And while I know you're not afraid of heights at all,
Or tumbling backwards off the wall,
Because hell -- I've seen you fall,
I do wonder...

I watched you fall again and again for Serengeti,
But what would it take to make you fall like that for me?
And would it be more, or less scary?
We could fall into serendipity,
Because as soon as you've forgotten about landing
You can fall with wild and reckless abandon,
And it feels
Like flying.

Trust me.

I'm on the other end of this rope.

Looking for a rock climber/belay-partner/lover:

Looking for back-country love-affairs.
Looking for port-a-ledge paramours."

by Ruthie Taylor