Human artifacts poke out of the ice: a thermos of coffee,
magazines, a woman’s purse, shoes, a child’s doll:
intact after the plane crashed in icy blue mountains
circling the coast, an arm, a ringed finger, leg bones
detached from their now cryptic bodies
buried deep in glacial ice
Who knows what lies untouched beneath our feet?
Under the soil deep as we know it and deeper still
undiscovered species and artifacts
human junk, and treasures?
200,000 pounds of jewels in ornamental
sachets undisturbed, in a glacier on Mt. Blanc
Rounding the coast of Greenland a whale ensconced in
ancient blue ice stuns kayakers
Do fresh-water lakes exist far below oceans?
Is there another Grand Canyon,
carved by rivers snaking through red rock, below us?
Indeed, though small, we leave our
imprints/impressions
Otzi, the Iceman, Europe’s oldest
natural human mummy tells us this:
I consumed two meals
before my death, of herb bread, roots
and fruits. And I am a man quite
fond of his ibez meat
Though wandering a conifer forest when he died
Otzi was discovered in glacial ice, unaware of
the next astonishing world that would
spin off its axis and wobble
in an unrestrained, delirious new light
Delirious poem. Crazy beautiful light here. And contemplating the Grand Canyon below my feet. xo S
Well, I'm astounded at what is still being discovered…we're a long way off from solving all those mysteries…sometimes sounds like science fiction, what's right here in front of our noses.
Beautiful, Monica. I devoured this poem. It shall nourish these bones through the long winter night and perhaps for unknown centuries, as well.
Two things…
I often make small jokes about being from the Pleistocene era. It's not that I feel old, it's simply a way of acknowledging the layers upon layers upon layers that have been laid down, body and spirit, since birth.
And, there's this, just one example of paintings Gary Myers refers to as his Archaeology series. If you do a google image search for "redtree times archaeology" you'll get a pageful of offerings. They're a stunning visual expression of the truth of your poem. What a treat this poem is!
hahaha! oh, you have a wonderful imagination, Kathy. Now my husband tells me the tallest mountains on earth are at the bottom of the oceans…already this poem needs a re-write!
Oh, thank you, thank you. I love Gary Myers work. Such wonderful inspiration; now so many ideas are running through my head…thanks for your thought provoking references.
How beautiful….
Tessa~
Thank you, Tessa. And so far, ad free…hope to keep it that way.
Oh yes! My blog is ad free also. I get very tired of having to tune out the eye-mind-buzzzzzzzz, of ads, ads, ads.
Thankfully, I'm not alone!
Thank you for leaving a comment in my blog…
Tessa~