Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Canyon Dreams



Walk between walls of light gray stone.
Touch well washed sandstone, basalt,
silica, quartz; jagged
points, edges sanded smooth.
Experience strata of worn millennia;
God’s crushed calendar of
dryness and time not measured,
compacted into impermeable hardness.

Light, dressed in white, fills between the
walls.

Walk upon pebbles and tiny flakes
of rock, azure blue;
frozen sea, cooling, calming,
lifeless; a reflection of sky.
Feet bleed, leaving a trail
of dried red upon blue.
Follow the trodden bloody path;
listen to walls of slight gray stone sigh.

Waters rise into the light, now drenched in
sound.


To see other poems submitted for One Shot Wednesday, please visit One Stop Poetry. The links will be live after 4 p.m. Central time today.

Photograph: Avakas Gorge (Cyprus) by Petr Kratochvil. Used with permission via Public Domain Pictures.

31 comments:

  1. God's crushed calender of dryness...never saw it that way...I will now.
    And light dressed in white. Fascinating. Thanks.

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  2. I single out, too, your line "God's crushed calendar of/ dryness" and "Light, dressed in white". Special!

    The details create a sense of the tactile and your images are potent.

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  3. i was pulled into the image.

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  4. Really enjoyed this...thanks for writing and sharing!

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  5. ...drenched in sound...how beautiful

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  6. I can hear the echo
    Smell the loamy earth
    feel the pain

    what a piece - now that's poetry

    A One Shot wonder

    Moon thanks

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  7. The image of being crushed into stone has stuck with me through several re-readings of your poem. Very strong central voice in the piece, very much an individual amongst the stones and water and light. Thanks for posting,

    crb.

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  8. The sensory details combine for a vivid poem. Felt like being in the canyon. A fine image too.

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  9. Fabulous detail and imagery, very well done indeed!

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  10. Loved these lines:

    "Follow the trodden bloody path;
    listen to walls of slight gray stone sigh."

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  11. Too many wow-worthy lines to single out just one. Just. . . like I said. . . wow. :)

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  12. WOW touched with every word Glynn! :) amazing image and i m just speechless..GREAT one shot! :)

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  13. Loved these lines "calendar of
    dryness and time not measured," and "drenched in sound" really captures that overwhelming ineffable thing that happens in the presence of nature. Well written. Thank you,
    Gay (@beachanny)

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  14. nice...i have spend more time in caves...and felt the walls around me even when i didnt...this had that feel and the blood on the clue...nice tough. great one shot!

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  15. love God's crushed calendar of dryness...great lines throughout....bkm

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  16. So much beautiful imagery in this one Glenn it is lovely! :-)

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  17. The imagery in this is just breathtaking Glynn. Wonderful, beautiful poem.

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  18. Beautiful imagery Glynn. I too liked the cannyon walk. I love how you connected nature to God being timeless. Great One Shot!

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  19. This prose rocks! (And not just geologically speaking!)

    Nice One Shot, Glynn!

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  20. the imagery in this poem was superb :)

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  21. I like the image of light dressed in white.. superb! :)

    My One Shot!

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  22. This is stellar, the pairing of the photo with the well writ poem leaves me breathless.

    I ate up the "God’s crushed calendar" -- so so well done. (Did I over-gush on you? Sorry, but when I read a fine poem, I can't help myself!) :)

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  23. Fantasticc. Thanks for taking me there!

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  24. gods crushed calender was a wonderful line..which is why so many comments have picked up on this..as always a superb poem..cheers pete

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  25. So descriptive...I could feel the rocks under my feet! This reminds me of the canyons I've been in CO.

    God's calendar...this reminded me of how my DH always says how scientists don't really know the true age of this planet because they are not using God's timetable!

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  26. I love the vivid imagery in this poem, the wonderful use of so many types of stone. Poem is image and metaphor first, everything else is second, and you have given the imagery and used solid wording too. My only quibble is with ending a line with "of" instead of running it down to the next line.

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  27. Liked it quite well as well as you brought the elements of earth into the poetry and then qualified it with "God's crushed calendar.." I enjoyed it a lot...
    Beautifully co-enjoining water, light and sound in the last line...

    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    I will great if you connect with me at Twitter @VerseEveryDay to read daily #FreeHaiku on love, life and longing

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  28. Really enjoyed the strong imagary you used in this poem Glynn. Your work is amazing I've had a look at a few older posts too. Impressed!

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