Lay down these words
Before your mind like rocks.
placed solid, by hands
In coice of place, set
Before the body of the mind
in space and time:
Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall
riprap of things:
Cobble of milky way,
straying planets,
These poems, people,
lost ponies with
Dragging saddles–
and rocky sure-foot trails.
The worlds like an endless
four-dimensional
Game of Go.
ants and pebbles
In the thin loam, each rock a word
a creek-washed stone
Granite: ingrained
with torment of fire and weight
Crystal and sediment linked hot
all change, in thoughts,
As well as things.
Riprap
Analysis, meaning and summary of Gary Snyder's poem Riprap
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If you’ve hiked a trail in the Sierra with amazing riprap work, perhaps you can appreciate the effort. I don’t pretend to know what was in Gary Snyder’s head when he wrote this. Stumble and stride. Do it again and again. It’s just living.