The lightning danced all through the night
To wrought a festival of fire
That put to torch in blackened blight,
And scorched the forest like a pyre
Now, petroglyphs of nature’s arts
In splotchy ash ‘cross craggy scarp,
Are scarred background to blackened ghosts
Now frozen in escapement’s warp.
The energy of blackened woods
And flora from the forest floor
Has left behind the fertile goods
Of nascence sown, as evermore.
Categories:
petroglyphs, allegory, allusion,
Form: Rhyme
paper burns
internet crashes
petroglyphs
Categories:
petroglyphs, history, time, writing,
Form: Haiku
What a brutal sun that assaults the cliffs
Where cacti and mescals dare to abide!
Here and there, dozens of petroglyphs
Decorating the canyon may be espied.
In large nesting circles neatly drawn
In evaporating wisps and bold squares
In a sun to give thanks for every dawn
In little starbursts and stick figures
In a deer, in an eagle looking strong
In a war scene kept by the ancients –
It remains unsaid – time is not long
But to a murky end, everything drifts.
Categories:
petroglyphs, life, time, wisdom,
Form: Rhyme
McKee Springs petroglyphs
southeast flank of the Ulnta Mountains
twenty-two miles past Quarry Visitor Center
a long ways from Kansas City
take island park Road
it is impassible during wet or winter weather
call and ask before you attempt passage
do not touch the story-telling petroglyphs
they are fragile and irreplaceable
do not trace or rub, you could ruin them
the park is heavily patrolled too
dinosaur remains are visible there also
embedded in the rocks
hinting at earlier civilizations and species
both cultures there to view and visualize as you may
feelings of connectedness with both ancients and dinosaurs
found few places in the continental USA
but found there
Categories:
petroglyphs, travel,
Form: Free verse
Shining in the distance was a pinata shaped like round bubble
A skinny limber boy yelled to his friend, “I will hit it on the double!”
The friend was watching star lizard twist on mountain with his curly tail.
Chuck, a skunk fox hybrid brought in bits and tatters of the morning mail.
Larry, an unassuming chipmunk tossed around his ruffled lace umbrella.
Dorothy, the girl in the slip dress told Larry he was an interesting fella.
Chickadee was fearful of the palm with the leather chaps and third eye.
Woe is me said the oak tree, I agree. I might even have to cry.
Cartoon petroglyphs rounded out the twerking tree tribe nicely.
Artist capturing everything complained, “does it have to be precisely?”
A turquoise lady bug who was butting in rolled her eyes and said.
You might leave out the chickadeel he is so still, I think he’s dead.
Categories:
petroglyphs, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Quatrain
Such a beautiful mind, lone blossom in a sty
one to many times taunting the tempest's ledge
now the muse wears a crown of his ashes
caulked memories to fill the holes of our lives
Your fireflies have brightened the crags of time
while all the pretenders pretended to listen
but now its painfully clear that they didn't
now your final wish is a cryptic gift to the sky
Our stark walls now decorated with your spirit
with dream catcher and the keeper of stars
garnished in the pigment of famished petroglyphs
your soul making paths to the center of our heart
Your life was brief but much deeper than a sad lesson
I believe you're very much deserving of heaven
Categories:
petroglyphs, life,
Form: Free verse
A Shaman's mind,
shinning visions and resurrected petroglyphs
wild horses running on a plain of stars
stick figures bringing down a behemoth
sitting 'round a story pit, souls touching flame afar
searching chanting embers for drumbeats waning
a procession floating into lavender canyon.. dreaming
pinwheels dancing along the sky and sea.
Categories:
petroglyphs, art,
Form: Free verse
resounding echoes in
caves of timelessness
my hands caressing walls of rock
never kissed by daylight
walls that speak loudly
of proud ancestors
immortalizing their
essence and
existence
painting
dwelling
hunting
sleeping
making tools
raising families
communicating
telling stories
leaving messages
their legacy
much like us
in many ways
yet so very different
AP: Honorable Mention 2022
Submitted on July 30, 2018 for contest END OF JULY 2018 STANDARD sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 1ST
Originally posted on July 24, 2018
Categories:
petroglyphs, age, art, family, history,
Form: Free verse
The universe is an endless expanse,
it's preposterous to think Man's alone.
And as our technology advances,
we unearth their calling cards carved in stone.
Implying intelligent life came there;
ancient accomplishments are a marvel.
Either Man floated huge stones in mid air;
or aliens came to this blue marble.
Petroglyphs depict the Gods from the stars;
descending to the Earth to teach Mankind.
And those visitors came from beyond Mars;
leaving telltale signs of their stay behind.
With incalculable stars in the skies,
it's illogical to think otherwise.
Categories:
petroglyphs, destiny, earth, how i
Form: Sonnet
A design of
never-ending procreation
with genes that in the end
become petroglyphs on walls
or words in wastebaskets.
Rationalization's for meeting
the Unknown are
all the accumulations for survival
that become lost in a Great Reality:
I am dying.
No need to add cancer or
diabetes or some other malady
for deep within the psyche lives
awareness:
Cells are dying in a dance of absence
crying out for whole civilizations
wiped from consciousness.
Who am I to rage ...
who am I to want eternity?
I am all of you
who will go before they are ready.
Then, the question becomes ...
go where?
Is there a There there?
Categories:
petroglyphs, death, mystery, nature, cancer,
Form: Free verse