Grand Canyon Is His Muse Part 1

Poems from AzRA Guest Tom Pattee

Lees Ferry

Standing at Lee’s Ferry,
Staring into the abyss that is the Grand Canyon,
Sets the mind to wander,
Sets the spirit to wonder what adventures are just down river.
The Paleo Inhabitants some 11,000 years ago must have done the same.
For us, the mysteries of the canyon beckon,
But not until we are initiated into the intricacies of river running.
Missing this trip was the ranger talk that reminded the traveler
That degenerate naked bodies are not
What canyon adventurers have come to witness.
There’s a sense that the person psychological baggage we have brought
Is about to be left behind.
In its absence, the void is filled with a desire to make direct acquaintance
With the wonders of the canyon.
Across from us is the Moenkopi Formation created in the Triassic period
Some 250 million years ago,
A realization staring us in the face
That we are about to become time travelers.
We settle down in our raft, float through Paria Rapid,
Then realize what we’ve really launched ourselves into…

Grand Rhythm

The canyon is filled with a harmonic rhythm unlike any other I’ve known.
There’s a definite multi-musical orchestration to it.
Consider the grand score written by the river
Emitting a consistent and soothing cadence.
The pace ebbs and flows with both intensity and calm.
Embracing the stillness between its stately adagio to
The upbeat allegro of the rapids,
The rhapsody invites contemplation and reflection.
I’m drawn to its tempo.

Dip, drip, and swing.

Canyon walls wait patiently for their choral voices to sing.
In this, nature’s recording studio built by
Centuries of major and minor chord changes,
They are the supporting cast keeping us engaged,
Backing up our emotional responses and
Nurturing our ears to pay attention
To the enchanting range of harmonies.
They are life’s foundations,
A testament to the boundless creativity of the cosmos.

Dip, drip, and swing.

Then there’s the wind, the unseen maestro of the skies.
By its very nature and movements
The notes are heard.
Sweeping across the landscape,
It can thunder a timpani of gusts and gales or
Carress the vegetation like fingertips on a harp.
Whether it’s blowing quarter notes across the river’s melodic meanderings
Or adding sharps and slurs through the contributing canyons and monuments,
The music of the canyon would be nothing without this conductor of serenades.

Dip, drip, and swing.

Finally, there is the beat.
Often, pebbles and boulders beat and rap against each other,
Water rises and falls thumping over the rocky patterns just beneath the surface.
The fauna waves and warbles like metronomes.
However, it’s the consistent pattern created by the simple musical rhythm of
The oars fondling the water as they dip in,
Dripping as they exit then
Swinging back to repeat score.
It echoes on the canyon walls, a persistent tapestry
that can mimic nature’s symphony
and mesmerize the grand, auditory experience.

Dip, drip, and swing.
Dip, drip, and swing.

The Grand Night and Day

Every morning, the sun sneaks over the rim world
To bath the canyon walls; or,
Do the canyon walls ascend to meet the sun?
They tower above me reaching deep into my soul
Just as the sun dives deep into the canyon itself
Etching an enlightened story upon the layers of pages already full of
The mysteries of life revealed…
Life lessons that become a part of me as I journey along a river
Lit with reflections and glistening waters that further require
My paying attention to the story as it unfolds.
Just as the sun holds on and won’t let go until
The final chapter is engrained in the history of today,
These lessons and morals become a part of who I am.
Just as suddenly as the sun reveals itself,
It is overshadowed by the rim world above and
Its shadows climb the walls of the canyon once again until
The final rays no longer have anything with which to cling.
The night sky, filled with morals and lessons of its own,
Shakes hands with the canyon walls,
Mesmerizing my mind with its dazzling drama.
This procession of day and night repeats itself,
Not just in the canyon,
But the story is now contained within me, and
The canyon within me is filled.

Time

Time, when entering the canyon, is based on “rim world” time.
We are in a race against time.
There’s no time to lose.
We must make up for lost time.
We are living on borrowed time.
“Rim World Time.”

In the canyon, time changes.
At first, we “face-to-face time” with real people,
With who we think we are,
Where we have been,
What our lives are like in the Rim World.

Soon, a warp in time begins to obscure all that.
The billions of years of earth surrounding us,
The billions of years of star light scattered above us,
Set the mind spinning leaving only faint traces of time’s presence.

There is a past present, however.
A reminder that I’ve been here before.
The loss of time returns and becomes a familiar friend.
I once paid attention to the endless rise and fall of “river time”
Relentingly eroding the shores of the past.
Now, time transforms the moment-to-moment vistas of the past within me.
I have no choice but to surrender to the timeless flow of the canyon and its river.
The end result,
The child of the past returns to play with the aging me.
For this short period of time,
There’s nothing but time.
Time for being curious of the environment around,
Viewing the condor interrupting the blue of the sky,
The ram chasing us down river asking us to stay and play,
The full moon settling next to a rocky monument,
Travertine flowing over the red wall formation like icing on a cake,
Sharing and creating our daily experiences with those around us…
Time for living.

In no time, the time warp will close,
Come full circle and return us to “rim world” time.
But this time in the canyon will join us there,
A reminder of how precious time can be.

Grand Language

There’s a unique language found at the bottom of the Grand Canyon…
It’s simple and direct.
It goes something like this…

Ahhh!
Oh, my…
Wow!
Whoa!
Whew!
Whee!
Yes!
Amazing!
Astonishing!
Astounding!
Will you look at that!
Extraordinary!
Good heavens!
I’m speechless!
There’s also a lot of screaming and screeching

Usually followed by
Long moments of silent introspection.
The Grand usually brings out the best in our language!

Yep!!!

Grand Pleasure at Phantom Ranch

$7.00 for an ice-cold glass of lemonade?
After 6 days of 110+ degrees weather
With no ice and lukewarm water,
Phantom Ranch could have asked much more…
(don’t tell them that).
$1.00 refills.
If it hadn’t been for the ensuing brain-freeze,
I could have made an engorging fool of myself.
Instead, gulping led to sipping which led to…
Another refill, please.
OK, one more, please.
With 8 more days of projected 110+ degree weather ahead,
I almost wish the Grand would flow in reverse.

Be on the lookout for Part II next month!

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