By David Stallings © 2005
We hike into cold
sandblaster wind that pits
the hides of car finishes.
Miles up a rough
sloping fan into foothills,
we pause, chunk
rocks into sample
piles, record mineral content.
From this we draw implications
about the Rockies’
stony heart.
Clouds part as we leave.
Suddenly
we are blinded
by countless suns,
each reflected from one-sided
rock mirrors polished like shields
by eastwardly
migrating grit.
Thoughts of data and warm
roadhouse vanish,
and
we skip dazzled
through
a [...]
By David Stallings © 2004
A man sits at attention,
suspended in a rotating
crystal with no top or bottom.
Each facet of the crystal mediates
his thoughts and feelings
about himself, family, others.
He surveys the zeitgeist,
adjusts his attitudes,
offers a palette of caring
colors to relieve
the stress of others.
He believes this makes
the world a better
place.
Although the prospect
of death is worrisome,
his vague sense of Buddhism
and healthy constitution
allow [...]
By David Stallings © 2004
Coming out of upper Cameron Basin,
then along Lillian Ridge where
mountain wizards craft energy candies
in rock grottoes under
full moons.
Beyond attention, effortless airy
shadow inspects rock slides,
stubby grasses, dried
bluebells and asters.
Marmot monks,
stationed like signal fires,
rip the silence, lump
toward burrow holes.
Raptor vision,
swift shadow,
echoing whistles bring an urgent
scale to the land.
Forget pain in knees,
long day, heavy pack.
Breathe the distances,
find a [...]
By David Stallings © 2004
Two circles pause
on an island.
It’s well and good
to draw the circle of our love
around us. But within it,
how do we keep our selves
spinning true?
The circles ponder
a long while.
Finally, one answers,
There’s no getting around it.
Just as birds learn
to make great sky-circles,
we’ll fall, and in falling, grow
wings.
(Epithalamium, August 7, 2004)
By David Stallings © 2004
Nashville, 1948
My skinny schoolmate, Judy Kay,
lived across the street, daughter
of a Southern Baptist minister.
Safe in the play boat we’d built
in her back yard, I suggested,
Let’s show each other.
Near the fo’c’sle, I pulled down
my jeans, stretched the top
of my white underwear briefs.
Her neck craned with interest.
In turn I hungrily looked
down her belly and saw
nothing. Where [...]
By David Stallings © 2004
Old Schmitty maintained it was simple.
Incline two logs up to your top
course of logs, lay your purlin
at the base of the incline.
Tie two ropes to the top course,
take two turns down around the 30-footer,
throw the ropes back up to the top,
and roll ‘er right up.
Like an old cairn,
Schmitty pointed the way
through impassable terrains.
Use the power [...]
By David Stallings © 2004
Most nights we read aloud,
sloped against each other on the
afghan covered couch.
Through Narnia and Earthsea
we cheered Good’s
endless battles with Evil.
One night, when it was time,
we placed Air’s homemade
super kiss bookmark at
chapter’s end.
She climbed up to her bed
built over drawers and low closet.
A guardian angel looked down
from the low ceiling,
and glow-in-the-dark stars absorbed light
for their upcoming [...]
