10 Mountain Poems
How Mountains Inspire Poetry
One of the strongest images I remember from a childhood Nature book was that of a mountain crag in Scotland where a Golden Eagle had her nest. It was such an inspirational picture for me. In the foreground was the bird with her chicks, beyond her the peaks of the Highlands. Wonderful.
I've been hooked ever since. I not only still love birds but have this attraction for mountains of all shapes and sizes. Whenever I can I head off to Spain or other craggy parts of Europe to walk and climb.
Sometimes inspiration comes and a poem or two appears.
Santa Engracia
We're above birds of prey
heading for Gurp, island
of honey and goats
in a sea of mountain.
There an old man sits
below the cool caves,
beret and two sticks,
waiting in a beautiful way.
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Ermita de Ste Pere
Prayer
supports a mountain
hollowed space for shy
Peter
the mountain tolerates
a mantra
unlike flowing water
which is there but is gone.
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The Family On Gran Sasso
Engulfing mists mingle and creep
up, innocent at first carrying valley dew,
a novel way to moisten hair.
Becomes an eerie massage
ending the world tree
by tree, peak by peak, son by son.
It hangs around, a cloud mime. Climb
out of your own head a voice whispers,
up to the crumbling summit
of this anaemic trembling rocca,
climb to where the six nuns rest,
kissers of graffitid rock.
They're gone, ghosts into scrub beech
one by one, their crucifix carved
their day veiled.
The falcon mopes in this dream steam,
blindly timing his limits of flesh and bone.
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Short Recipe For Escapism
Put a stranger on a mountain
of your choice,
measure out awe
in days, enough story, history,
add a pinch of fear.
Follow them
up a single diminishing track,
mix elation and dust ,
reduce to a particle
that somehow in your housebound
mind feeds the spirit,
simmering on horizon's range.
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Griffin Vultures
October wind chills the light
on distant first snow.
Winter
whistling, no casual observer,
sets the scene on edge, saw
teeth cutting the air
the mountains shape.
Vultures sense the change
of emphasis, gathering
in solemn spirals, wheeling
into the sun
a glorious totem
we want to applaud
the disappearing show
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Seeing Africa
Looking into unkempt
grass,
rented weeds
taxing the dreams
of my brain
meandering along
tarmac borderlines
almost afraid to acknowledge
welcoming cloud.
There you are
reflected in glass
in a spectral haze
you only exist
when we reach a certain point
where water revels
through tumultuous light
way south of Granada
just conjured up
out of unkempt grass.
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In Mountain Woods
Last year we found
the horse, in extremis,
pine scent in those
soft moist nostrils.
Hunter's bullet
for a broken leg,
dry sweet woods
gathering prayer.
Now bleached bones,
scattered shadows.
All of its creatures
this mountain knows.
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Andalucia
Lorca drank water
from the high mountain,
sipped and relieved
his darkening soul.
The clear blue
above the sierra;
you could leave
a pure voice
up there, songs
of lovers and heroes
heard in fountains
on a cool street
with a filigree
of finch, bitter orange
trees and those
unfathomable shadows.
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Climber
Fallen, the climber
who never gave his name?
Last seen, you'd swear,
smiling, the south face
burning orange where
the dead zone comes alive.
He had reasons to stay put.
Love being amongst them.
They never ask questions
until the answer is known?
Does the conundrum start
or finish here?
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The Last Bear
On the plinth a sculptured bear contemplates hairline cracks,
stone skin stretching like fabric across time that has been running out
on the male bear the scruffy brown bear that wakes in spring to find
the females gone from his rock strewn slopes
he sniffs the time the scent of time invades his skull he claws
tall pine and marks the line he follows the boundary of his reign
to cross the path laid down by man first and last first and last
the honey
sheep
wild boar
he takes then stands looking out listening for the familiar, sniffing time.
Mirador del Oso Picos de Europa
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More Poetry Links Here
- How To Analyse A Poem For Exams Or Pleasure - Part 2
Part 2 of how to analyse a poem deals with rhyme, metaphor, meaning and much more. For GCSE students there is evaluation,anthology comparison and essay writing.
© 2012 Andrew Spacey