I was up early this morning and sat through 6 hours of information in training for my new job, most of it filling out administration paperwork. My post today is a small escape into creativity, but I fear it lacks the patience and pace of a truly open process. So be it. The poetry prompt from NaPoWriMo for today was to write a poem inspired by a photo. The site provided 3 photos, but I have my own to post, so I let them act as my muse. I promised spelunking and sunsets, and posted a shot yesterday of myself disappearing into a cave in the bluffs over the Mississippi River. Here is what I found:
Treasure Cave
Spreading fertile earth, penetrated by relentless drops,
Her fragile rock abducted by the wind,
Exposing a shameful cavity of twisted darkness.
The damp mystery in danger of collapse
Now sheltered in a chamber of aged secrets.
scillagrace 
crevice in the earth:
bright light left behind
to relish a dark
batblind wandering
twisting past earthen bowels’
lime smooth ripple walls
sculpted by the drip of time.
Cold silent earth womb beckons
Too soon for the grave
Too late to turn back
Until the oracle speaks
Her cryptic truth.
What lies inside?
beating heart careful breath
alone in stone embrace
vision for another step
finger traced along the walls.
Descend into question marks
rising like gooseflesh
stalagmites on a wary nape
where buried shadows kiss downward
with stalactite solid pendulous
force from above.
No sign of Ali Baba’s treasure
in this cave of wonder
until the last sesame of fear
opens up in surrender.
secrets indeed.
Ohhhhhh I love those steps !!
My quads loved those steps!