By Gary Snyder

It comes blundering over the
Boulders at night, it stays
Frightened outside the
Range of my campfire
I go to meet it at the        
Edge of the light

How Poetry Comes to Me (Inspired By Gary Snyder’s “How Poetry Comes to Me”)

By Kaitlin Johnson

It evolves from a deep gap

In the ocean surface

Rising higher and higher

Until it collapses

A giant wave

Of pure sea

By Gary Snyder

Lay down these words

        Before your mind like rocks.

                  placed solid, by hands

        In choice of place, set

        Before the body of the mind

                  in space and time:

        Solidity of bark, leaf or wall

                  riprap of things:

        Cobble of milky way,

                  straying planets,

        These poems, people,

                  lost ponies with

        Dragging saddles --

                  and rocky sure-foot trails.

        The worlds like an endless 

                  four-dimensional

        Game of Go.

                  ants and pebbles

        In the thin loam, each rock a word

                  a creek-washed stone

        Granite: ingrained

                  with torment of fire and weight

        Crystal and sediment linked hot

                  all change, in thoughts,

        As well as things.

Clutter (Inspired By Gary Snyder’s “Riprap”)

By Kaitlin Johnson

Take these wooden drawers

            Intricately carved, smooth, yet cluttered- with many

                        Flaws.

            Feel free to open them.

Find items of the past

            An old letter

                        Scribbled with funny markings

            A doll

                        Will lipstick and blush smeared on her china face

            A pressed leaf

                        A treasure from last fall

            A shiny pebble

                        That you couldn’t bear to put down

            A ripped shirt

                        Your favorite

            10 stickers

                        With your initials on them

            A chewed up picture frame

                        That our dog found when we were asleep

These drawers represent changes –

Reality