granite lover: poem
take a ride on the poetry train
I was inspired to post this poem after a week surrounded by Yosemite Valley’s granitic walls…and readwritepoem’s prompt to GO GREEN… even though I wrote the poem after an experience on Lake Tahoe granite.
Below is a broadside I did for ARTLIFE Limited Editions. It allows you to see how the poem should be formatted (but I am unable to do on a blog yet).
granite lover
granite bites
on the small of my back
warm
me as if you caress there
*
slipping my hand through my hair
i feel the memory of your kisses
sharp presents from you, of you
gorgeous granite lover
*
my hand cool explores
where granite
heats
shoulder knees between my thighs
*
gazing on your sparking face
i desire to
> > > rest upon your lips
> > > lie along your spine
> > > explore your crevices
> > > know what formed you:
explosive hot magma breath crystallizing
country rock scraped away by glaciers
rough epidermous polished to glistening
freckles of lichen splashing gold, green
*
wondering how you feel
soil collecting juniper growing
roots creeping deeper in you
crushed berries scenting you
*
sitting here in leatherette chair
wind caresses you through the window
no sun glows on my face
i’m left watching wondering
*
in what ways has
my soft body
left
an impression on you
Sensual, and full of great “concrete” images (no pun intended!). Or, maybe so….
Granite lover! A cool concept!
garbled garbage
actually, it is a concrete poem in print! good observation!
when it was published in ARTLIFE for example, I was able t format it so the stanzas go in and out toward the middle of the page like a ridge with the 9 line middle part (the other stanzas are all 4) extends into the center… I’m going to try to work on formatting on the blog hopefully tonight and ge tit so it has the concrete aspect.
when it was in ARTLIFE, it also had a body painting like you see on how I became the ART PREDATOR…
I live near a granite-bedrock shoreline, so your poem really resonated with me. Especially these lines:
‘explosive hot magma breath crystallizing
country rock scraped away by glaciers
rough epidermous polished to glistening
freckles of lichen splashing gold, green’
this was very visual, stimulating indeed. liked it.
Short and sweet images all the way thorugh!
I’ve always been interested in geology, and I loved this!
I think of this poem in the context of Sierra granite faces so I like thinking of it as resonating with you too, Julia, and your shoreline granite!
I enjoyed the intimate, erotic relationship between climber and rock. Interesting the later specualtion about what impression the narrator’s soft form left on the boulders. Strong middle section too, with all the great words describing rock.
Thanks for visiting my yoga blog. I’ve been so busy teaching yoga lately, that I haven’t had time to post in a while. One blog is enough, especially keeping up with all the contributions to RWP and other prompts. We can’t do it all, right?
you’re welcome, Maria Christina! I think we start these blogs in a moment of optimism…the stats for how many blogs are inactive after 6 months is significant. I have 2 other blogs, too –the write alley and art city ventura–and it does keep me busy!
now this is really beautiful. you have a delicious way with words.
thank you for your comment. i’m so glad you enjoyed it, i will include that poem as my second entry for the anthology. speaking of which, i’m working on the cover right now. was there any text or anything necessary to have on the cover? i’ll bring both a hard copy and a flash drive of it in case we need to make changes to it tomorrow.
I absolutely loved this poem. I live in Cornwall, England an we climb mostly on granite there.