image from Wikipedia.com
Magma Moments
“Love, my territory of kisses and volcanos.”
--Pablo Neruda.
I reside
in a deep fertile valley
that was carved out
centuries ago,
the last time that Mt. Rainier erupted.
Many of my childhood memories
centered around mountains;
staring at,
hiking in,
skiing atop
thinking about
them.
From Baja to the Yukon,
the Cascades hug the coastline
like a 4,000 mile slumbering python.
From California south,
they are called the Sierra Madre,
but all of that range constitutes
one great serpent.
We squat in the Ring of Fire.
five active volcanos--
Baker, Rainier, Adams, St. Helens, and Hood,
reminding us daily
never to be complacent
about our safety.
In May, 1980,, Mt. St. Helens
blew its top,
with the raw energy
of a dozen hydrogen bombs,
creating a cloud plume
that circled clear around the planet.
I tell you
there is something very exciting
about living in the shadows
of these bad boys,
something primal and pristine,
like sleeping among
a pride of hungry lions,
or camping in grizzly country,
like attending
a rattlesnake round-up,
or milking tarantulas.
On any Sunday,
I could meet the fire devils,
surfing some lava.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub "poetics"
15 comments:
I once visited S:t Helens after the eruption, then still you could see how devastating it had been... I wonder if it's all covered in wood by now.
What a mesmerizing write, Glenn. My daughter lives in the Willamette Valley and there IS a majesty to the sleeping giants.
Yeah, the trees have resurfaced, and the young forest iks healthy, but it is still spooky to stare at the mountains with its top blown off; like when I met a man who had survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound, where he had blown most of his face off.
Beautiful Glenn! I am right there with you my friend. I love the power of the Cascades. I used to hike the trails, fish the lakes and mountain streams, play golf on some the fantastic mountsin courses, and just road trip everywhere, marveling transcendent in their beauty. You wrote a beautiful piece here! The haiku was quite fine as well... :-)
This is absolutely riveting.. I can picture the idea of "living in the shadows of these bad boys, something primal and pristine, like sleeping among a pride of hungry lions.." there is nothing quite like it and yet some people continue to destroy beauty on earth.. sigh..
That was a great photo of St. Helens! It is recovering amazingly. Nature finds a way...
I like the way you start out with a pastoral travelogue, then hone in on your "hot spot". I wonder if it makes the temperatures warmer there, with all of the magma below?
Love the quote by Neruda and the landscape of your life.
To live near those sleeping volcanoes, is to be thankful each day. I really like how you feel about these bad boys, from pride of hungry lions to milking tarantulas - yikes.
Ooh, you capture the mood and feeling of living in a place surrounded by these monoliths of fury and fire so well — I felt a part of this environment as well as the palpable excitement of being shadowed by the primal nature of these geographic marvels. I loved this image in particular: "...the Cascades hug the coastline like a 4,000 mile slumbering python. From California south, they are called the Sierra Madre, but all of that range constitutes one great serpent. "
Geography and history are united in your ‘deep fertile valley’, Glenn. Your simile of the slumbering python is so effective in depicting the Sierra Madre. You also capture the danger and awe of ‘living in the shadows / of these bad boys’ – an interesting way to describe volcanoes!
I've never been to that area. I really like the way you convey the beauty, awe--and the perhaps incipient danger of being there. The slumbering giant could wake. . .
I like that Neruda quotation, too.
I've always wondered why people live around volcanoes - maybe it's partly that sense of being close to greatness.
One never knows when the serpent will awaken. Like Rob's waterfalls, your sleeping hot giants keep us tethered and mesmerized. As we ask in Seattle about Mt. Rainier, is the mountain out today?
Beautiful capture of living near the Cascades, Glenn.
I can imagine it being exciting there. I would be hoping for an escape route should that become necessary: "there is something very exciting
about living in the shadows
of these bad boys,"
There is that sense of danger and a thrill to it too. There is a power there, and you share your draw to it honestly. Nicely done my friend.
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