Conversing The Muse


Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Seeking The Muse” by: rob kistner © 4/16/24

 

Peering over the cliff’s edge
high above the churning fall
of the steel-blue stream
I point

look down my friend
watch that trout

with the svelte grace of a dancer
it slides in then out again
gently flexing in the soft break
of a stream-bed boulder’s shade

look there

I call attention
across the stone canyon
cut by this persistence of current

an Osprey lights a branch
a focused sentinel
measuring the timing and tactic
of his imagined next meal

let us go to the water

down the steep granite face
through the white aspen and Douglas fir
giant chinquapin and Oregon madrone
I descend at steady pace
bent-knee’d and cautious

I throttle and steer
with boot tread and trek staff
followed by a fine-dust slide
of chattering limestone pebble
and dry needle
clattering the rip rap

down to the stream-side grass patch
then alertly hop
rock to rock

‘cross the tumble
of crystal chill current
to where I’ll make camp
in this wilderness canyon

midst the quiet rush
of the Clackamas waters
and the hushed murmur
of tall Ponderosa bough
I settle

OK Gary
you’ve tagged along
all afternoon my friend
pestering my thoughts
with the urge of verse

so here is the perfect spot
to stop
to rest and meditate
mesmerized by this eden

taking seat on a downed Douglas
I inhale deeply
nature’s wonderful wild bouquet
exhaling the stress of the day

my soul feels a presence
still with me
the presence of a kindred spirit

quieting my core
I build a small fire

task done
I close my eyes
and peacefully wait
enjoying the crackle of logs
and the voice of the stream

a breeze stirs
nudging the flames
opening my eyes

so — Mr Snyder
what’s on our mind


Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Conversing The Muse”
by: rob kistner © 4/16/24

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rob kistner © 2024

Poetry at: dVerse

Poetry at: NaPoWriMo 2024 — Day 16

 

12 thoughts on “Conversing The Muse”

  1. I enjoyed your conversational poem addressed to a beat poet, Rob, with its imperatives to point the addressee/reader in the direction of wonderful sights of nature. I especially love the trees in the lines:
    ‘down the steep granite face
    through the white aspen and Douglas fir
    giant chinquapin and Oregon madrone’

    and the sounds in the lines:
    ‘…chattering limestone pebble
    and dry needle
    clattering the rip rap’.

    A great place to write.

  2. “I descend at steady pace bent-knee’d and cautious” ~~~ The way WE do it in Oregon! Great write, Rob.

    1. Wonderful dreams of yesteryear. Been many years since I was able to climb down into a canyon to fish a stream. If I tried that move nowadays I would just tumble down the cliff side, into the water and drown — though I would likely be dead before I ever hit the water. Oh well… sigh…

  3. This is absolutely exquisite, Rob! I especially love; “let us go to the water down the steep granite face through the white aspen and Douglas fir.” Thank you so much for writing to the prompt 🙂

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