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.

Pillar of Strength

Part of the exhibits in the UAF Museum of the North is prehistoric mammoth & mastodon bones and teeth.  There's a femur bone you're allowed to touch, so, during our Walk and Write, I spent time just studying it; running my hands over it to feel the textures; enjoying the way the bone and the history both gelled in my head.

This poem is a result of the time spent with that femur bone.

Pillar of Strength

Strong yet hollow

It stands the ravages of time

An outer face,

Once pale and unblemished,
Darkens…
     Cracks…
          Chips.

Smooth from wind and rain

Preserved by Nature

A supporting character –

Just a part of the whole –
Unlocking history

Fragile,

     Easily broken

Indestructible,

     Resisting pressure

Beaded

This is another poem inspired during my "Walk and Write" at the UAF Museum of the North.  I spent probably ten minutes just studying pieces of Alaskan Native bead work.  The intricate details, the patterns, the amount of effort that goes into any piece...

It was definitely inspiring.

Beaded

 

Tanned hands

Stiff with arthritis
Yet fingers still nimble

Deftly, deliberately

Needle darts, moving like a
Hummingbird.

Soft, supple hide

Rolls in the hand,
A natural, worthy campus.

Gossip shared, news delivered

Politics discussed
Friendships rekindled

Functional, ceremonial

The labor of love worn
Distinguished and powerful

Who Walked Here

This workshop has been excellent for generating new ideas.  During the first week, we took an afternoon to do something called a "Walk and Write" at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North.  During a Walk and Write, the idea is just to look around and, whenever you feel inspired, write about what you see or how you feel or how something makes you feel, etc.

This poem was inspired by an exhibit in the old part of the museum that outlines the six geographical areas of Alaska.  The exhibit has a small brown bear and a bald eagle on it and, in front where the placard explaining the exhibit is, there is a plaster mold (dyed to look like hardened mud) of several different footprints from Alaskan animals.  The footprints part is called "Who Walked Here" and it is explaining which footprint belongs to which animal.

I sat in the floor, in front of that exhibit, running my hands over the contours and roughness of the footprints, feeling the valleys where thick pads dug into soft soil and the sharp peaks that formed between toes.

This poem is the result of that time.

Who Walked Here

 

Footprints

A memory made in malleable clay
Set hard by sun and heat

A moment

Bright and fleeting
Caught forever like a fly in amber

The shapes

Sharp peaks and soft valleys
Mimic the landscape.

Their tale

A well worn path freed of brush
That shows their struggle.

Footprints

A snapshot depicting the life
The journey of a land long ago.