Kivas Poems | Examples

Of Cairns and Kivas

Of Cairns and Kivas

The cairn went together without effort -
each stone calling out to be next 
to take a seamless place among the others, 
and when they were all in place,
each making their willing sacrifice,
they were one; a monument,
an offering place
.
Surely you noticed

The kiva was another thing entirely -
designed for ancient rituals’
I merely borrowed it for a while. 

It was a quiet dark shelter with no corners, 
no place for unwelcome spirits to hide -
I re-arranged the fire rocks slightly
and made the prayers rather quickly.
as Mesquite flames began to produce billows of pungent smoke.

As I crawled out to leave,
I watched black smoke spiral high into an azure sky.
Surely the escaping black ribbon could be seen for miles. 

Perhaps you were faced in a different direction. 

Cairns and kivas -
reminders of my barren inability to cause
even a tiny reaction in the Universe.