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