The Grand Teton

I am flatness
Pure and sweet as any Midwestern plain
Rudely bent upward
Bruised and stretched and upended
Into the pale, blue, sky

I sought anonymity
Under the dirt that grew the grass
But the earth broke and swelled
And pushed my strata
Into the pale, blue, sky

You call me Grand
A majestic peak above the Tetons
Cut and gouged in clean, angular strokes
Swathed in snowy stripes, screaming
Into the pale, blue, sky

You see in me hope
An untamed spirit soaring
Striking out against mediocrity
Jutting through the clouds
Into the pale, blue, sky

You see in me yourself
Erect and proud and conquering the land
Your destiny in my jagged swells
Your achievements smothering the past
Into the pale, blue, sky

I am only rock
Wasted and frozen in frigid air
Wind-blown of pregnant soil
High above the greening trees
Into the pale, blue, sky

James K. Richardson