Once more to the mountains

I wrote this poem years ago, I think in 2006. It was after one of the yearly trips I take to Yosemite Park and the Eastern Sierras. Having just come back from one of these amazing trips, I decided to post this poem about one of my experiences. This poem is dedicated to that incredible area of the state and to the wonderful people I spent time with there.

Tuolome River

We walk along in the sweat sucking heat;

thin air pushes against our tired hearts.

A river seeks us

and we hear it soon-- waiting.

Then it appears--

a sinuous, porcine animal

continually diving downwards.

By a glassy pool

we remove our clothes

and I suddenly I am afraid.

Why? To experience fierce cool is why we came.

Ankles in, I feel ice dragons bite at my bones.

How can water hurt so much?

I retreat, and sensation leaks back down my legs.

A small, deep copper pool offers full immersion.

I jump in, and the scream escaping my throat is

sucked back, and all my organs

quail inwards for core warmth.

In two seconds I experience a year of broken crystal in every pore; it is

terrible and amazing to be consumed by this beautiful creature.

I flee the artic maw, and grab my forehead

to ease the external ice cream headache.

My limbs find warm granite,

and they kindly lower my torso.

Sun thaws my marrow

and I am simultaneously

tranquilized

energized.

Back in my body,

I watch the liquid shards

drip from my hair and realize

I am finally

violently

Alive.