For Sara Rosecrans, banner photo of Sara by Meg LaHatte
Give me the words to describe the blue I see
when my eyes are barely cracked.
Give me the tools to plaster my body to the desert wall
and watch for centuries as the world is eroded into new meaning.
Give me the day to “fill with bravery” and
“not shrink from celebrating it.”
Give me myself, that I may emit my power,
which lives in the “transparent boundaries” between all beings.
Give me these things I need before I can, with honor,
sit before the hearth of my family, and bless our meal with the holy song
we wrote by the notes of music we found
on the sky decomposing underground.
Give me a new set of eyes
with which I see color
for the first time, and gasp with astonishment
as I realize what I am.
Sara Rosecrans was a beloved climber, boater, and skier in Durango, Colorado. She died in a rafting accident on the Upper Animas in June 2023.
Turner Wyatt is an entrepreneur and writer based in Durango, Colorado. He is the co-founder of the Durango Poet Laureate Program, and Project Director for the Colorado Poets Laureate Anthology. He is also the co-founder of Denver Food Rescue, Fresh Food Connect, Bondadosa, Upcycled Food Association, and several other social enterprises.
This poem was published in Volume 24 of The Climbing Zine, now available.
