Keystone Thrust Trail
By DeAnna Beachley
An earlier version of this poem appeared in The Everything Writing Poetry Book: A practical guide to style, structure, form, and expression, by Tina D. Eliopulos and Todd Scott Moffett
Photo/DeAnna Beachley.
she emerges
sloughing bark and leaves
as snakes shed their skin
abandon the old
for the new
ancient goddess
serpents wrapped around
her arms
erosion strips away all that is unnecessary
nature’s spare language
fault line force of thrust
exposes layers of rock
cooked far beneath
cobra pose
spine elongates
tension releases
breathe
this is just what is
a new being
stripped of outward burdens
engaged but detached
no desert varnish
no slick veneer
what shall take root?
Photo/DeAnna Beachley.
DeAnna Beachley teaches United States History and Women’s Studies at the College of Southern Nevada. Her poetry has appeared in Red Rock Review, Parks and Points, the Kenyon Review Blog, Sandstone & Silver: an anthology of Nevada poets, Thimble, and in The Ekphrastic Review Challenge. Her work has won awards and has been included in an art/poetry exhibit, A Room of Her Own at the Left of Center Gallery. When not teaching, reading, or writing, she spends time exploring the natural world.