Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Death Valley

Every once in a while I like to pop into Abbey of the Arts and participate in the monthly poetry party Christine holds. Today is Ash Wednesday and this month's poetry theme is "Entering the Desert's Fire." Please click here to participate. Below is my contribution.


Death Valley

my feet are tired now
and caked with pulverized stone.
with each exhalation
i become elemental
and lizard-like.

desert walking is harsh
and i look for the sowed luminescence
cast in salt by my ancestors.

they danced here.
cried here.

they communed with the gods
HERE
and became them.

and it was in this dry place
that i kicked into the world
cast in a papier-mache body
and formed by an unknown god.

my ancestors whisper
and tell me that the god chewed up paper
and rubbed spit with sand to create skin.

and then left me
to burn in the sun.

it's an alchemical fire
and i wait to turn to gold --
comforted only by bleached bones
of one who pushed into
the earth's cracked face
in order to become it.

2 comments:

Abbey of the Arts said...

So very beautiful - thank you for this offering - these words are speaking to me today: "i look for / the sowed luminescence / cast in salt by my ancestors. / they danced here. / cried here. /they communed with the gods / HERE / and became them."

Kelly said...

thanks much, christine! i always look forward to your poetry parties.