Dusk comes gold
Off the dust of farmlands
Where tractors still plow
Fields nestled below mountains
Dressed in ribbons of ash.
Forest fires burn fifty miles away
I pray for this landscape
The surreal beauty. Dangerous beauty.
Gone-in-an-instant beauty
Made glorious
by this chance of disaster
Mount Hood is the color of the flesh
From fresh-cut salmon
the horizon is inked
A color darker than blood
The wind tastes of gin.
Tonight I give thanks
For looking out my window
While driving home. I say a prayer
and under my breath
Give thanks
For beauty that comes
From burning.
Matt Spohn is receiving his MFA in poetry from Pacific University and lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife Michelle and their climbing Chihuahua, Zoozoo. Matt has freed El Cap, rapped El Cap, bailed off of El Cap, and had a bag of poo tossed on him on El Cap. He has also freed other big walls around the world. When he’s not climbing, he helps run Stoneworks Climbing Gym and coaches a youth climbing team.
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About us: The Climbing Zine was started in 2010 by Al Smith III and Luke Mehall. It continues to the day with the mission of representing the true essence of climbing. Our crown jewel is our printed version, but we also do the interweb thing, and Kindle.
We have also published five books: Graduating From College Me, American Climber, The Great American Dirtbags , Climbing Out of Bed, and Squeak Goes Climbing In Yosemite National Park (a climbing children’s book) .
Check out our film, Last Thoughts on The Dirtbag, made with Cairns Film.