John Muir in the Sequoias
\nAugust, 1870<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Enough of the winds tearing through Merced
\nCanyon\u2019s boulder-choked gorge, enough
\nof the stampedes muddying Moss Creek.
\nEnough hoofed catastrophes. I\u2019ll ride them<\/p>\n
all out in these root-caves, framed
\nwith the purple-tinged bark of buttressed
\ntrunks in an unnamed grove. Too tired
\nof tales of the ground\u2019s cataclysmic quakes \u2013<\/p>\n
valleys bottomed out, pine trees tossed,
\ncedar, oak, gusts snapping massive limbs,
\nand the sudden rush of flame \u2013
\nto even imagine fire grazing these old,<\/p>\n
close-packed leaves. Spinning, zigzagging,
\nburning back, surging, scorching every living
\nthing. Roaring updrafts filling branches filled
\nwith cones. Ashes settling, smoking litter cooling<\/p>\n
slowly. The air dark with incense, charred
\nstumps. Blackened hollows like the one I sit in.
\nFrom this loud storm drifts
\nchestnut snow, down from the quiet<\/p>\n
canopy, each fleck smaller than a grain
\nof flax, a cloud of hope released from tight
\ncone scales opened by the heat,
\nflurries of small, flat-winged seeds.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“John Muir in the Sequoias” first appeared in Words and Pictures Magazine.<\/em> John Muir in the Sequoias August, 1870 Enough of the winds tearing through Merced Canyon\u2019s boulder-choked gorge, enough of the stampedes muddying Moss Creek. Enough hoofed catastrophes. I\u2019ll ride them all out in these root-caves, framed with the purple-tinged … Continue reading
\n Christianne Balk’s<\/a> books include Bindweed<\/a><\/em> and Desiring Flight<\/a>.<\/em> After majoring in biology at Grinnell College, she studied English at The University of Iowa. Her poems<\/a> have appeared in The Alaska Quarterly Review, The Alhambra Poetry Calendar, The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner,<\/em> and other anthologies and journals. She lives in Seattle with her husband and daughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"