The Rift, Taos, NM

"You can't miss it," said your cousin--
"You'll see lots of painters
just off the highway." I don't think
you missed it, but one could:

Here, where the earth splits,
cloud flocks graze and mountains
mark time as if the earth
rolled on as usual; and so,
elsewhere, it does, but just here

an ancient scar opens or closes,
it seems, forever, healed only
by distance. What a smooth skin
is here torn!

Odd that we find a wound so interesting.
Probably Mother Earth understands,
herself chatters endlessly with Mars
and Venus about operations and scars.

If your own eyes were titanic fingers,
could you keep them from stroking
and probing this seam? Can you
leave it alone?

Dean Blehert

Last Updated: October 6, 2002