Best Capitan Poems
Right foot into this little dimple that you can toe in on aggressively so it’s opposing the left hand, then you can, like, zag over across to this flat, down-pulling crimp that’s small but you can bite it.
[From Honnold’s climbing notebook.]
For me, the most transcendental feat –
your smeared soles at Freeblast Slabs,
your shoulder jammed into Offwidth
and cardiac-kick at the Boulder
were: Inspirational; unimaginable.
We sit in theatre chairs white-gripping
our armrests and, too often, eyes closed.
Up on El Cap as much as we’ll e’er be,
We twist our bodies in synchrony.
We’ve seen how immeasurable
the possible; the achievable
of the inconceivable. At last,
an image beyond the past; a hero
of no vanquished enemy,
brawling limitless potentiality.
Following your lead, we reimagine
how we might ascend our vallied lives.
I soft-swing on the granite face ...
Cuddled close to the cooling stone like a spider,
Sun slithering into the emerald-studded reach to seal the day.
I dig into my hip sack for the last usable piton -
There are a few old ones driven into the rock to my left,
But corrosion has seen an end to their usefulness.
I consider my route carefully from this point on, for it will be unassisted,
And ANY surprise means a long fall and quick end when free-climbing.
My mind chooses the appropriate slot for the piton ...
I align it to my route by the strength and quality of granite,
And attach it, securely as possible, deep into the tiny crevice.
The late hour and lack of food leave my focus a bit ... confused ...
While I'm steadfastly sure of my expertise and strength,
Even the smallest errors are deadly,
And I barely notice a small, mis-colored cleaving at the anchor spot,
My subconscious mind processing it as late-day shadow.
Before I'm aware of what's happened, it gives way,
The fascia of granite shearing off in a seven-foot section -
ONE piton pulled would not create enough momentum to doom me,
But the loss of four with the broken section is too much ...
My harness breaks, and I tumble ...
I instinctively contort into a ball to increase my terminal velocity,
For the pain of surviving is too much to consider.
I watch the speckled rocks below grow quickly in size ...
Oh, I have considered this death a million times,
Yet no fear accompanies me now ...
I am content, the day as perfect as any,
Blessed to leave this earth doing what I love most,
Sad, only, that my end ...
Will leave such a bloody signature.
Written and submitted on September 9, 2019
For the "Ten Word Challenge 1" Poetry Contest
Kai Michael Neumann, Sponsor.
El Capitan - you are a joint
Within the Sierra Nevadas
Of punctuated granite -
A sentinel of the ages.
Sylvestris partition -
Beam of silver - or steel -
Are you a step to heaven
Or a capstone for hell?
Stern expression of peace -
Keeper of fortitude -
Of what would you speak?
Would I even understand you?
Why not write in the infinite sky?
So the words would flow in all directions,
We would tell stories of how it all began,
Of how thought appeared long before the stars,
And the truth was born from the absurd, the unthinkable.
Is life a drifting boat, without a rudder and captain?
The more we think, the more we lose ourselves
In the running waters that flow into solitude.
The sea doesn't know time - always a mystery -
Just like dreams, which navigate profound worlds.
With each dawn, we grow old into a new world,
Full of gaps and abysses where the future lives,
In a house with infinite doors and empty rooms.
Why not write in the infinite firmament,
Instead of on a flat computer screen?
by Airton Parra Sobreira
Adieu Ami, Mon Capitan,
Your voyage, hence has ended,
This Voyager, once befriended.
Adieu Ami, Mon Capitan,
The thrill for you, sailed the Seven Seas,
The will of crew, ever would appease.
Adieu Ami, Mon Capitan,
Your ship and crew behind you,
May Heaven soon remind you.