Canyon de Chelly Reflections

for David Paladin

 

 

 

In our childhood the elders

are portals into dream stories

we hear in their voices.

 

In this sacred canyon where

stick figures of the ancient ones

dance with animals on walls of caves

 

we can feel the lingering light

of the full moon consecrate

the water that trickles

 

and the fires that flicker.

Stone balances upon stone

beside boulders standing sentinel.

 

The orange moon in a black sky

is a ripe fruit ready to bleed into

the open mouth of a thirsty world.

 

Everywhere shadowy blues and pinks

and browns and burnt reds settle

like vestments on sand and stone

 

Norbert Krapf, Indiana Poet Laureate 2008-10, has published nine poetry collections, the most recent last year from Indiana Univ. Press, Songs in Sepia and Black and White. This year American Dreams: Border Crossings, seven prose poem cycles, will appear from Mongrel Empire Press. Norbert taught for 34 years at Long Island University, where he directed the C.W. Post Poetry Center. As Indiana Poet Laureate, he stressed the reunion of poetry and music and held a 2011-12 Creative Renewal Fellowship to combine poetry and blues from the Arts Council