She’s trying to stand upright
as wind pushes her down
and back and back--
She is the rock El Morro,
she is the mesa Walpi,
falling upward to a sky too blue to believe.
Wind takes her over an impossible edge
into the box canyon of the Ancestors,
face cutting the wind
at first…
She is bird tracks filling with sand,
the wind’s toy,
She is the empty clam shell
deaf to all the people-voices
stolen by arrogant winds from
a rift in sky.
J. Pratt-Walter, (c) 2012
El Morro is an incredible looming rock (sandstone plus limestone from fossil sea creatures) rising out of the New Mexico desert, and inside is a box canyon and a freshwater spring that is a true oasis.
ReplyDeleteWalpi is a sacred Hopi site, a tabletop mesa with an ancient town where some people still live.
El Morro is the accompanying photo.
ReplyDelete