I long for the imperishable quiet
at the heart of form,
the hills rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun--
such stillness--
the cries of cicadas sink into the rocks.
ruby of corundum, lapis lazuli
from changing limestone glow-apricot
red-brown, carnelian sard
rock meeting rock can know love better
than eyes that stare or lips that touch--
all finite things reveal infinitude,
the rock will split, we shall come on the wonder,
we shall find the Hesperides.

(T. Roethke, W.C. Bryant, Basho, L. Niedecker,
C. Aiken, D.H. Lawrence)

a gem!

I had to do some googling to get a full grip on this, but it was well worth it

a tiny query, and it's probably just me, but:

red-brown, carnelian sard

should there be a comma between carnelian and sard, or if not could carnelian sard be tautological?

Beautiful, Ken. And the subject matter really fits the assemblage of great writers. Tom

 such a gorgeous shining language here, Ken, and I feel bad now for getting over-involved in these chalcedony silica minerals colored by impurities of iron oxide but I have to blame you for setting such delicious bait ;-)

I like too how the

         imperishable quiet
at the heart of form,

connects with the durability of these gems.

I'm not familiar with some of the authors listed at the bottom.  They all wrote/write in a certain way perhaps, because this has the full essence of a classic of yore.   

Tom and Peter,

I'm glad you like this, I've got rocks in my head!

                         Ken

Ken, this is glorious, with the still wisdom of rocks.  Somehow I don't want it to begin "I".  Would you consider starting  "Longing..."?

k

Another good performance, Ken.  Enjoyed this.

cheryl

wonderful, Ken. is this a rewrite? so familiar to me!
perhaps you had it posted on another site

Stella

Kev,

I don't know what to do without the "I". Cutting it leaves
a jagged edge of rock. Any suggestions?

CA, thanks.

Stella,

This is a virgin but other centos have Lorine
Niedecker's poems and these may be familiar
to you.

                Ken

Terrific this, Ken. A pick.

milner

Milner,

Your pleasure doubles my own! Thanks.

                        Ken

Ken,

My fondness for Centos aside, I kept coming back to this
to follow its opening lines into the poem. Nicely done.

Maggie

Oh, PS.

It needs opening and closing quotation marks.







 

Maggie,

Where have you been hiding?

                       Ken

Maggie,

Where have you been hiding?

                       Ken

dear Ken

a rich borrowing
and a tender molding

silent lotus