Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
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"The Old Quarry"<br />
by Caroline Misner<br />
They have made a mockery <strong>of</strong> this,<br />
building <strong>the</strong>se boardwalks <strong>of</strong> old wea<strong>the</strong>red planks<br />
so that our soles may never touch<br />
<strong>the</strong> shiftless silt that once resided here.<br />
The splinters protest our approach,<br />
<strong>the</strong>y heave and groan beneath each footfall;<br />
<strong>the</strong>y seem to call—<br />
don't step here, step instead upon<br />
<strong>the</strong> hammered stone, <strong>the</strong> ground,<br />
<strong>the</strong> dust that crackles underfoot; climb<br />
<strong>the</strong>se boulders that erode <strong>the</strong>ir layers<br />
like <strong>the</strong> skin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> snakes that<br />
lay hidden here.<br />
The walls are not <strong>the</strong> canyons I recall,<br />
nor <strong>the</strong> ravines that meandered<br />
between <strong>the</strong>se humps <strong>of</strong> stone,<br />
dwarfing <strong>the</strong> foliage that split<br />
<strong>the</strong> abandoned granite blocks;<br />
<strong>the</strong>y now inhabit <strong>the</strong>se ancient bones,<br />
so proud <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>mselves, though<br />
<strong>the</strong>y have accomplished nothing.<br />
The grandeur <strong>of</strong> this place has been sanded down,<br />
a colossus dulled and drab,<br />
even in midsummer when all <strong>the</strong> hues<br />
spiraled in shadowed kaleidoscope<br />
when I lay down upon this ragged slab<br />
like a human sacrifice<br />
and turned my face up toward <strong>the</strong> sun.<br />
Even <strong>the</strong> trees that crest <strong>the</strong> rim where <strong>the</strong> sky<br />
and quarry meet, have brandished <strong>the</strong>ir age,<br />
bristling above this ragged crater,<br />
now filled with moss and swaying reeds.<br />
Blooms <strong>of</strong> amber, white and fuchsia splay<br />
like mist below <strong>the</strong> rust tipped stalks,<br />
casting whispers in <strong>the</strong> air—<br />
water has turned <strong>the</strong> ground to marsh,<br />
<strong>the</strong> boardwalk a sheath <strong>of</strong> wood,