The eons of tectonic shift
pushed the mountains to the sky
Forcing ocean air to quickly rise
unleashing ages of snow.
Weighed down and moving slow
the rasp made of ice and rock
slowly shaped the Sierra Nevada
Snowy mountains a saw cutting the sky.
Circling the sun a countless age
the world warms
the ice melts
the snow gives way to rain.
The pacific plate
ignoring the weather above
continues its relentless efforts
to nudge the coastal range above the sea.
Millennia upon millennia the season of rain
Nourishes the forest and turns the grass green
Fills the rivers and streams
The earth drinks, storing the life giver deep in her bones.
People arrived between the drops of rain
hunting deer and bear
building shelters and gathering acorn.
They counted the drops that fell
and decided to starve the sea
dams went up hoarding all rain for human kind.
Deep went their needles to
suck the earth’s bones dry
In audacity assuming an infinite supply.
People cover the earth with asphalt and concrete
building immovable cities
not seeing the long slow change in the sky.
The rains, ephemeral, transitory and living
now dancing in other lands
wonder why the people have not followed.
There is this week’s poem. I am still hard at work on my book. So far I’ve completed 30 poems and have about eight left to write. Then I’ll be ready for the difficult step of editing. I’ve been thinking that I’ll likely just self-publish this book as trying to get it placed with a publisher might take more time and energy than I have this year. Still thinking about that.
Till next time,
Andrew
Andrew's View of the Week 
love this…the audio is an extra element that I suspect shouldn’t be used with each poem, or it’s impact might lessen. coming from colorado, I relate.
peace
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Glad you liked the poem – by all reports Colorado is suffering as bad as California is.
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‘wondering why the people have not followed.’
Love poetry, love science…poetry about science! Andrew this just resonated with me so much. I thought of how the indigenous cultures of the southwest would break their pottery, pack up and leave hundreds years worth of constructed villages and lifestyles, over the lack of water.
Then I consider the present, where water is such a critical issue and the migration of people into those areas continues.
You captured it so succinctly in the last verse. Thank you.
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Glad you found meaning in the poem. Water is going to be critical problem for the southwest in the next few years – we’ve stuffed more people here than the land can support.
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Self-publishing probably is the best choice for poetry. Many of the most famous poets did that, originally, given that its market is to a limited taste. And, it’s not hard to do, these days!
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Good points. I am coming around to that point of view. I did spend a little time looking up a couple of self-publishing platforms. The Amazon one looks very easy to do (upload, click and done it feels like).
But first, I’ve got to finish the writing.
Thanks!
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I love the audio, Andrew. It gives a whole new perspective to the poem.
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Thanks – reading a poem and listening to a poem travel through different pathways in the brain giving us two experiences of the same text.
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