Listening to a Rocksong

Groundstanding, soles of my feet making a connection

To this bedrock nub

Slow murmured, the rock sings a grinding song

Remembering the crush of icesheets that tore and tumbled

 

Deeper still, contrapuntally

Groans a deep murmur of the drift

Rock saga of the grand voyage

Sliding and lurching from the equator to Canada’s west coast

For 380 million years

 

Even deeper, this rock remembers the hot cauldron of explosion

Heat of becoming that danced lightning in radiant intensity

When this rock reverberates that long lost tune

It remembers the immediacy of fast

High intensity vibrations and collisions that spiraled into infinity

 

Underneath those rhythms is another

Creation’s splendid release that uncoiled it all

Sacred music written across the sky

And inside every molecule of every thing

Echoing just outside our hearing

So big and so loud

Forever

 

 

David Trudel   © 2013

 

 

Baker

There is this volcanic peak that dominates the view

For a hundred miles

A pyramid of stone and ice

Solid as the rock I’m standing on

Which isn’t really

Since this hill is a nub of its former self

Ground down and scoured by sheets of ice

Even Mount Baker, the dormant icon

Is cooking up trouble

For this thin mantle

A fragile crust which will be torn apart

And furies unleashed, hard rock to be melted once again

And the swollen fires of the underworld will flow

Unchecked by any vain defense

When the spoon stirs the pot

Run

 

David Trudel   ©  2013

 

 

Geography Lessons

Some days my words tumble out of me

Like a freshet in spring

Cascading through a leafy glen

 

But not always

It’s a struggle to maintain

Fluidity

 

It’s hard to climb

Peaks like these

Overwhelming heights

Deep crevices

Steeper slopes

No clearly marked paths

 

Changes happen

 

 

Ground shifts

And I’m discombobulated

My words back up

Stoppered

 

 

 

 

 

 

I climb an arid trail

Stumbling on rocks

Fearful of tumbling back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I reach the top

I’m stymied

The gap is large

Insurmountable

At first

But others have carved a trail

To follow

So I do

 

I call on the muses

I call to you

I implore

Cajole

Grovel

 

 

 

Warmth spreads

Words unlock

I am blessed

Unleashed

Released

 

 

David Trudel   ©  2012

All images taken by the author