Everland

Canyonlands National Park – Photo by Gary Baird

the American west

aeons on display

epochs marked by

divine hands of time

endless vistas

exhibit existence

its layered creation

gives grandeur to

powerful portraits

persistent with

water and wind

at their gradual work

of transforming

the earth framed

beneath the blue

glorious arch

of the firmament

here is forever

made tangible

granting to man

the humility born

of his relative

paltry significance

Talus and Scree

“Abstract Hills and Mountains” by David Lane

sharp jagged peaks
glisten naked and stark
the spectacular
upthrust of youth
geologic ejecta
a birthing by violent
forces of seismic
creation spontaneous
reflex contractions of
pained molten wombs

less pronounced peaks
lushly skinned with
rich soils in raiment
of towering evergreen
forests a middle age
stature sufficiently
pleased with itself
to invite nature’s
creatures to come
share its bounties

dry crumbling peaks
under ravage of time
worn and riven
reduced to the
shape of old age
paltry mean humpback
hills the great part of
their once-in-time mass
now collapsed into
talus and scree

Monument Valley

Monument Valley, Arizona
Photo by Bernard Gagnon
From Wikipedia.org

softly sculpted
imperceptibly
slow at their work
winds and waters
adjust a most
ancient terrain
even weakest
of forces when
persistent when
patient when
partnered with
time can create
new from old
confer new
form and shape
to old substance
and propagate
manifest change
unremarkable
save by a
distant posterity
fooled by their
notions of
constancy
tricked into
thinking that theirs
is the fixed
last and best
brave new world

Reformation

“The Maine Coast”
Photo by Sandra Wescott
From 500px.com

from a bench
upon Maine’s
rock-hard coast
watching stones
take their rest
in the rapid decay
of each sound
between waves
feeling empathy
for their relentless
barrage by the
deadly soft tides
smashing microns
from continents
changing the
shape of the
face of the earth