GLACIER STONE

Enduring memory — Poetry by Tim Kahl

GLACIER STONE

Recitation and original musical setting by the author:

By Tim Kahl

The icy blue tongue of the glacier recedes,
an enigma the most willful humans cannot solve.
It turns gray at its edge and backs away from 
the fjord. Every day those humans with enough
money can don their crampons and scramble
across the surface. They chalk up experience
while the conscientious cry the earth is hurtling
toward its demise. What good is a conscience
in an age where internet opinion reigns?
The Buddhist influencer reminds his followers 
that all is impermanence, but I'm having difficulty
convincing this stone which has been revealed
by the Nigard glacier withdrawn to the heights.
It is a stone, a stone, a stone — steadfast and 
pledged to say nothing. It is discouraging for 
humans. Their fragility is well-documented,
predictable. So many graves are spotting
the terrain. According to Jewish custom,
a stone placed on a grave invites an enduring 
memory. It chases away the golems too
which are always gathering where the peel of
the earth is thin and worn. The traffic is 
passing, passing. The pressure is prolonged.
I can place a stone from the Nigard glacier
in front of your eyes and make it speak
to memory. It issues its continuance
even after the invincible river of ice is gone.

Tim Kahl is the author of six books of poems, most recently Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019), California Sijo (Bald Trickster, 2022) and Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes (Cold River Press, 2024). He is also an editor of Clade Song. He builds flutes, plays them and plays guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos as well. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento.

http://www.cladesong.com/

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