Petroglyph

This poem is another which flowed from the Walk and Write at the UAF Museum of the North.  The first exhibit I saw were these petroglyphs recreated on large, smooth river stones.  I sat in the floor, running my hands over the stones, letting my fingers dip into the carvings, and immediately had to write.

This is what I wrote (it has not been edited or rewritten):

Petroglyph

 

River stone
Washed smooth over the
Course of a millennia,
Rough edges eroded to
Reveal the heart

Chosen not by size or color,

Not by location or age
But by emotion…
Intuition…
Insight…
Hope.

Excess stone chipped and chiseled,

Piece by piece,
Like paint flaking in the sun.

Hands move carefully…

Deliberately…
Guided by the ghosts of
Those gone before
Until a shape is clear.

Cast in pale relief from a dark shell,

The tale is told, the story sung,
A myth made real in the face of that
River stone.