Castles Made of Sand

Plein air painting in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by Meg G. Freyermuth, 09/20/2014

Castles Made of Sand   09/20/2014

Bugs go walking in my landscape

A window into their next reality–death.

Sand sticks to the sky, mountains, rocks, trees;

I ask David Byrne, silently,

“Is this like sand in your vaseline?”

After four hours in the red rock desert,

you’ll start to believe the jays are singing along

to the Rolling Stones blasting out your headphones.

 

The stickiness of a tiny oil painting to a bug

Is the stickiness of an oil spill to larger creatures.

And everything’s purpose is seen,

The double-edged sword of every good and bad in life.

 

These truths come to light in Canyon Country,

the country that gives me a big bear hug

full of red sand,

phallic formations,

distant blue mountains,

junipers and birds,

Mormons and outlaws,

great storms and winds and sun,

all in an ocean of staircases, arches, holes, gulches, devil’s playgrounds…

The Backbone of Hell.

 

“And so, castles made of sand slip into the sea, eventually.”

 

How great it feels to be like a tortoise,

slowly roaming the desert,

observing

breathing

knowing home is wherever I need it to be.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah