Every once and a while I bust out my typewriters for a writing contest. This year at the International Climbers Fest in Lander, Wyoming we held a “love letter to climbing” contest. Sara Aranda was this year’s winner, and it was her first time ever using a typewriter! Here’s her poem, in original format and typed out on the computer. -Luke
You make me tremble
Deeper than bones
You make me claw
Furious in ways
Never good enough
Never found
You spill, into me
Darkly wet with the low
Shudders of stones
Against flesh stones
I am always naked
To you, my denial is cracked
This forever lust
This absurd passage of my body
Over you, over, under, beneath
I am weak for you
Fingertips and toes
I am bones and you are bones
You bloom in me, fiercely
Until I am reduced to your silence
And I tremble there
Scattered notes of love
Of hate and fear and disgust
And I breathe you in
Never enough, never found
I spill, I spill
For more, always more.
Sara Aranda somehow took a liking to writing at a young age, composing terrible stories about mermaids, love in the Wild West, and portals to alternate happy-land dimensions. She eventually pursued a degree in creative writing, with an emphasis in poetry, at the University of California Riverside, which is also where she discovered trail running, climbing, and ultimately the great wild world of everything outdoors. She also really likes peanut M&M’S and baby sloths. You can read about other adventures and musings at www.bivytales.com.
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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.
