ABOVE SEDONA
(In the red-rock country)
What
eye can follow where these strata go?
Massed
piñon branches stop sight as it flies.
The
air is thin, and hikers must tread slow.
Unhesitant
striations leap and flow
past
canyoned pathways to each buttressed rise.
Few
boots can follow where the rouge-red strata go.
Caprock
grows porous that once wriggled, died
and
rained like manna through pre-Cambrian tides.
The
air is thin and travelers must step slow
yet
pitch-pine campfires and a flyleaf tent
still
show: our love is uplift and
repose.
Some
shapes abide, though few may follow
where
the strata go. The air is thin.
Perception
here moves slow.
First published in Iron Horse Literary Review Photo-Finish Anthology, Oct. 2017