"When dawn spreads its paintbrush on the plain, spilling purple... ," Sons of the Pioneers theme for TV show "Wagon Train." Dawn on the mythic Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico, looking toward Raton from Cimarron. -- Clarkphoto. A curmudgeon artist's musings melding metaphors and journalism, for readers in more than 150 countries.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Poetry and The Canyon


One of the times I do write poetry is when I'm camping alone at Chaco Canyon. See photos and paintings from my August 7-9 posts.

Excerpts from my last trip:

The high cliffs and boulders
teach us something we need.
they are not in a hurry.
Life and time swirl around them and change comes in its own time.
We need to slow down and enjoy
the fossils and lichen on the rocks,
the crevices in the sandstone cliffs,
enjoying the texture of our skin.

They teach us that all our hurries
and our worries just don't amount to much.

What amounts to much
is how much time and joy
we spend exploring ...

The desert wind is cool on my back
as the sun droops.
My fire's heat creates a million universes.

We have a million universes
to be created by our heat.

A crow flies overhead, cawing
mocking me stuck on the ground.

The sunlight is climbing up the cliffs east of me
as the sun dips behind the western cliffs
The crows are gone
Soon will be the bats
And always the stars
as the campfire pops...

What "time" is it here?
Time "zones"?
How arrogant that we think we control time.
The only time zone is present tense.
The Anasazi are laughing

1 comment:

  1. Wow...alone in Chaco Canyon. It must feel like the beginning of time there alone. How wonderful to experience nature as it should be experienced - one on one - and with reverence.

    This is a beautifully rendered piece. Each line carries its own weight here, and collectively it's like one of those universes in the poem - the ones we create. I can understand how this radiated from your deep stillness of being. I love it.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.