A World of Shadows in High Mountain Desert
Twilight on the mesa
Snow covered sage
Last light of day
Slipping to the west
Horizon ablaze with this last light
Windows reflect gold
Lights aglow in adobe bungalows
The air cold against my skin
Last light like an abandoned dream
Tales of yesteryear
Each casita holds a life unique
A story to tell
All the way to its unexpected end
Stars made for wishes fill the darkened sky
Twinkle overhead
Twilight in winter brings back memories
January 3, 2019
Peggy Pond Church
In the shadow of the mountain
She grew up
Became a woman
In love with the world around her
In love with the mountains that rose
From the earth where she was standing
“Barefooted among the grasses”
She loved horses
Awake in the dream
Her work reflects
“Her sensitivity to the beauty
The spirituality
The mystique that is New Mexico”
Even the dirt her floors were made of
“She was born on an isolated ranch
In the territory of New Mexico in 1903
Where the great plains meet the Rocky Mountains
She delighted in “spring with its lilacs
Summer with its heat
Autumn with its odors of dead leaves and nuts
Winter with its snow
Her world was the journey of the poet”
January 31, 2019
I have taken many words from the article about Peggy Pond Church. Some of the words are the Peggy’s. She is one of my favorite poets, she writes about the New Mexico landscape, and puts the reader right there. Mabel Dodge Luhan said of Peggy, “As a girl, her eyes always had a direct, long-range expression, as in one who gazes from a mountain top across wide valleys to a far-away distance. And alwqys she had time. Out in the world, one has everything else but hardly anyone has time! Time to experience the overlooked, the important natural things that escape us in our hurry.”
You can read more about her here:
http://womenoftaos.org/women/profiles-lege
6 comments:
I so enjoyed your poem, Annell. I am always entranced by your descriptions of the landscape of your home, and how wonderful to be introduced to a poet whose work is so close to your own heart.
This is incredibly stunning, Annell!!💞 I love "Stars made for wishes fill the darkened sky."💞
In your poems, you make the desert and Taos Mountain come alive for me, Annell, every bit as much as the poet you admire. I especially liked the stars made for wishes, too.
Ah, I love the beautiful imagery of the region that you bring to life here. Your tribute to the poet is very sweet. 😄
You paint such visuals with your poetry. It is like brush and pen join. So beautiful.
Love this poem, Annell. In one of my other lives (first marriage newly wed, second real job, first kids, twins) when stationed in El Paso (at Fort Bliss) I would ride my Vespa motorscooter to work most every day. That was a 20+ trip east of town to Hueco Tanks where we had a radar compound. Pure desert sand, tumbleweeds, and sage. We also lived in a one bedroom adobe house in a small compound of its own, probably a motel in it other life.
..
Post a Comment