Sun Series circa Backpacking 101

“why is light”

if i could capture

the joyful emanation

of soothing mid-memory loveliness that is

this light of gold on this crest of world i would

open myself and breathe (inhale) its warmth

and release (exhale) from every pore its emanations

            you would be intricate plants and sprawling grasses breathing in life (stretch)

            from sun from sky

(breathe in more fully your life, live fully in oxygenated experience)

and only, you may only ask us why

 

 

“sunscape”

sunscape

all i see is

sun

gold breaths cover the skin of Earth with glowing,

like

the glow of our cheeks after

(what, what does this evoke in your subconscious)

afternoon was heated, hot,

sweat on skin,

and now is calm-temperatured all

bodies simply are

(are you simply is)

and my eyelids know its there

the sunlight casting shadows

of eyelash, hair

on cheeks do they glow like you and

all you are glows

rays

we are

rays

(raise release raise roll)

and that means what you think it means but

I am always where I am

and you can join me there

here

in the sunscape

 

 “setting sun”

all is spectrumal

and the sun shines sunshine

the colors line up to imitate the ocean

            who reflects the color

            reflects the sky

silhouetted mountains contrast

            dark to light

            earth to air

oh, do they know the art they are the landscape they create

for us

for

only we may see the art

as one may see you in the world

there to be seen but unseen if not sought

are we taught

to see lovely where we see

            sunset

            mountain ridges

            purple blue backdrop to a day lit by

                        orange leaves

                        white trees

or is it essential to being alive

to see life as art

            is life art

            are we art

            (art defines life defines art)

always remember each day closes with a setting sun.

 

 

This series of poems was written on the crest of a hill in the Ventana Wilderness (Big Sur) of California, that overlooked a vista encompassing wilderness, mountains, and the Pacific Ocean. I was on a backpacking leadership trip for the weekend, and this was where we camped the second night.

I revised the original scribbles from my notebook for a creative writing class I'm in, and these poems are the result. They are still a work in progress, as all writing is. 

The photographs were taken at the same time the poems were written, and the real-life experience that the photographs capture only a small sense of was the inspiration for the poems' themes.

Thanks for reading.