A Poem I Enjoy

RIPRAP

Lay down these words
Before your mind like rocks.
          placed solid, by hands
In choice of place, set
Before the body of the mind
          in space and time:
Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall
          riprap of things:
Cobble of milky way.
          straying planets,
These poems, people,
          lost ponies with
Dragging saddles --
          and rocky sure-foot trails.
The worlds like an endless
          four-dimensional
Game of Go.
          ants and pebbles
In the thin loam, each rock a word
          a creek-washed stone
Granite: ingrained
          with torment of fire and weight
Crystal and sediment linked hot
          all change, in thoughts,
As well as things.


by
Gary Snyder

I enjoy reading & writing poetry, and
literature in general, so I thought I
would comment on poetry I enjoy on
occasion.  This is one of my favorites.
It is so simple and clean and concrete,
there is an almost zen lack of need to
look deeper into it.  I hope you enjoy!

TomC