D’s Bones

Anasazi watchtower,
cylinder of stone
atop mesa remnant.
Green River meanders
far below. Near the
river, sagging log cabin,
pioneer way-station
for TB patients boated
to sanatorium near Moab.
Overhead, jet
contrails in translucent
sky, hundreds of people bound
for places
unseen.

(No. 87 in a series of responses to Han-shan’s Songs of Cold Mountain)

Many layers of time may be found in the canyonlands. This moment was experienced during a recent visit to Canyonlands National Park (via the White Rim Road).

(Numeric reference to Han-shan’s poem reflects the order of presentation in Burton Watson’s translation, presented as Cold Mountain, Columbia University Press, 1970.)