Plastic Earth

“Where were you when the earth was plastic?” This is what God asked Job, in answer to Job’s complaint about his woes and sorrow. Obviously this is more of a paraphrase than a quote. I love to think about the time when the earth was in its formative years. The beauty of geological time is written in the rock layers all around us. I can’t imagine the tremendous forces that lifted and bent these rocks. Once mud on the ocean floor, these rocks are now part of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Fossils tell of a very different time. I have broken open rocks and found perfect fossils in them. I have cracked geodes open to find amethyst crystals that grew as lava cooled millions of years ago. So when you complain about your situations in life, I ask, “Where were you when the earth was plastic?”

Read writing in rocks

Recognize we are but dust

Gives life perspective

 

Photos: Dwight L. Roth – taken at the Linville Falls in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

I am posting this for open link night on d’Verse Poets Pub.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

 

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Rise

Red Maple seed floats merrily on wings;
hoping to find a place from which to rise.
Landing between the crack of a rock;
with little soil, and almost no chance of survival;
it puts down a root;
forever changing the future of that rock!

**********

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Quadrille Monday, and Merril, at d’Verse, asked us to use some form of the word rise. I decided to put a little different Spring twist to it and came up with this Quadrille of exactly 44 words.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Small Beginnings

Meandering through life we encounter rocks

Stacked in our path  holding us back

Cascading over and around them we roll on

Rocks in our path are a natural occurrence

Nothing holds back the cascading flow

Every river eventually hits a fault line

A major shift in our perceived foundation

Sends us cascading over the edge

Each time forcing a change in flow

 

Nothing stops the flow…

The cycle continues

*************

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Amaya at d’Verse asked us to write a poem using the word cascade. In my poem I am using a river as a metaphor for life and relationships.

Come Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

 

Athabasca Falls

When our boys were young, we made a number of trips to the Canadian Rockies and the surrounding areas. One of our stops was at Athabasca Falls. It was a beautiful spot. I took a slide photo of the falls, and when I got home sent it off to get made into a poster. It hung on our upstairs landing until we moved from that house to our present home. It was rather faded but that time but held a lot of sentimental value. I decided to see if I could paint the photo. This was the beginning of my renewed interest in painting. It is now preserved for a lasting memory.

Whitewater roaring
Rocks refuse to wear away
Athabasca Falls

The little fir tree growing in the rocks survived its precarious location. Several years later we visited the falls a second time and it appeared to be about six feet tall!

Painting of Athabasca Falls: Dwight L. Roth

Living Among the Stones

We Live Among the Stones  

We live among the stones

Some rounded and smooth

Others sharp and jagged

Stones fresh and raw from upheaval

Laid bare by heat and pressure

Scorched and Broken

Stone surrounding the fossils of life

Embedded ancient remains

Relationships yet to be excavated

Stones in the river of life

Hard yet rounded smooth

Shaped by the flow of life

Stones cut and shaped to perfection

Stacked and fitted with keystone and arch

Support and strength for all above

Stones of beauty shaped with loving hands

Smoothed and polished

Exquisite beauty stately and cold

Stones of hurt hurled to harm

Smashing killing with devastating force

Leaving only piles of rubble behind

Stones of moraine crushed under ice

Laid bare by the receding foot

Cold snow pack fading fast in the sunlight

Precious stones forged with extreme heat

Pressures that forever change…

Leaving a greater metamorphic glory

Stones of love left in sweet memory

Of loved ones gone // lying among the stones

Now only names carved in stone

We are all precious stones

Jewels in our creator’s crown

Reflecting love and grace

********************************************************

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

For d’Verse open link night we can post any poem of our choosing. I chose this one because it describes how we live among so many and diverse peoples of the world. It also has personal connotations that apply to us as individuals as well.

Come join us at de’Verse: https://dversepoets.com/

Here is another post on rocks from a spiritual perspective by fellow blogger David Alleman at Compost and Grace.

https://uplandweb.wordpress.com/2018/02/24/on-being-chips-off-the-old-rock/#respond

My Own Piece of Clay

One of my favorite Marvin Gay songs is My Own Piece of Clay . I decided to write my own spin off of this song.  I observe that couples and spouses , often  try to shape the other person into their idea of what we want them to be.  When one person is rock and the other is clay, the clay ends up getting crushed. I believe individuals in relationship should be like two rocks in the tumbler, knocking off the edges of each one polishing each other into gems of beauty!

From the day we are born

our crying screams

change everyone’s lives

shape everyone’s dreams

demanding care

for our wants and needs

*

Life is a struggle

between two lumps of clay

shaping each other

in their own way

shaping them

into their own image

*

What a shock to find

how fragilely they slip

crumbling creations

held tightly in our grip

crushed

by selfish lack of understanding

*

Clay just won’t cut it

it has no strength

once hard

it won’t stay for any length

Fragile Egos

crushed

like dust in the grinder

*

Instead

hard rocks in a tumbler

rolling and tossing

against one another

bumping and grinding

smoothing and shaping

letting the chips fall

*

Finally

after a lifetime of interaction

the gems we have become

hold our attraction

full of beauty

our own true shining colors

jewels

for the crown

of our creator

*****************************

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Grandfather Mountain

One of the most beautiful spots to visit in North Carolina is Grandfather Mountain. Its mile high vista gives a panoramic view in every direction. The rugged pathway to the summit is accessible to the young and strong, but for the older folks the view from the bridge is almost as good as being on top.

Grandfather Mountain

The Blue Ridge Parkway yields panoramic views

Rising and falling through majestic hues

Turnoffs, overlooks, tunnels, and bridges

Orchards of apples and long gorgeous ridges

Grandfather Mountain towers ahead

Drawing us up to its jaw-dropping ledge

Serpentine backbone a scoliated spine

Split Rock lay open and wrapped in vines

The bald rocks the twisted trees

Bask carefree in the summer breeze

Hurricane-force winds cannot rip them loose

Deformed over time by Nature’s abuse

Excited to be at the top of the world

Here where branches and trunks are curled

Blooming flowers defy the wind

Smiling sweetly until the very end

Feeling the sway of the long steel bridge

Looking up in the distance at the neighboring ridge

A rocky pathway draws some to his face

The old man of the mountain stays fixed in his place

Undaunted by storms or gray fog rolling in

He’ll still be there when our vision grows dim

Creating the mystique that continues to draw

Young and old from near and far