winter into spring in utah
of all the gathered mirrors
with all of them totaled together on an altar built up
producing the biggest mirror assembled
will not contain the whole of this
a mirror’s reflection limited in its space
against the desert distance doubling itself
ablaze with light out there in Utah
of geological time
where we showed up long after
despite what’s often said of interpretation
what is it about color
and light and shadow and time
when it changes before us
that makes us miss what was just there before
Jack C. Buck
Jack C. Buck, originally from Michigan, is a teacher, writer, and book editor currently living in Idaho.
About this poem
"Utah is a special place, one of my favorite regions to visit in particular is the small city of Moab. Every year since moving out west, I've made a point to spend a week or so camping and hiking in the backcountry of its expansive desert landscape. Besides growing up in Michigan, no other specific place has inspired my artistic output at the level the canyonlands have. If you're interested in reading more poems influenced by my time spent amongst Utah's landscape, consider my chapbook of poems "will you let it send you out" published by Ghost City Press."
תגובות