July 2015
I have about 200 poems in public in many different places, both online and in print, in several countries from the US and UK, to the Philippines and Malaysia. I often write on natural themes, but recently have been responding to odd prompts. I'm a semi-retired teacher in California.
Sublime
Not beautiful but sublime—
views too wide to grasp
an immense openness
first close-in and intimate
then suddenly breaking past
a screen of green sage
and the horizon spreads
with a diminution of the ego
consciousness expands,
standing on the edge of a cliff
overlooking thousands of feet
of orange layers to a valley
in another state
I could throw myself off,
float away on currents
never stop to consider
where my body ends
and perfection begins.
This is why
we approach the idea of falling.
The End of Heat
The ground softens
cool breeze rises
after the heat of the canyons
their shadows invite repose
on drifts of fir needles
without distraction—
chaotic words parade
in the thin air
and they are discarded,
I hold only those that
sing my thoughts—
let loose the debris
absorbing the wind
on my skin
against the tree
in the smoke of a small fire
the heat gone now
Desert Perfume
base notes that linger—
dust, petrichor, sage
the bottom of dry streams,
sun-baked boulders
middle notes last hours
acacia, sweetbush, spring
wildflowers bloom only days
rubbing on bare skin
top notes that instantly
strike when a car door
opens on an empty road—
verbena, heliotrope
hot wind breath
pure sun on stone
a biting dryness cuts
the nostrils until they bleed
a scent instantaneous
luminous, later the dirt
residue on blankets, hands,
shoes, hair, the perfume
reduced in late afternoon
to the bare ground, naked
©2015 Emily Strauss