Poem of the Week: The Shawangunk Mountains And Mohonk Preserve

By Cornelia DeDona, Member at Large
Kingston, New York

 

The Shawangunk Mountains And Mohonk Preserve

are my church

a photographer’s dream

an obsession.

 

I return

to scramble

Giant’s Path

Rock Rift

Bonticue Crag.

 

I return

to capture black snakes slithering

through the foothills

to meditate on the serenity at Duck Pond,

snacking on wild blueberries.

 

I rejoice in making a photo

of two Turkey Vultures perched on a ledge

then follow them with my telephoto lens

as they take flight

and then circle back to

inspect their new home.

 

I witness

fellow hikers’ reflections

in pools

beneath waterfalls

the cool mist

sweaty rock panorama.

 

I return with raw

close-ups of Spring’s

trillium erectum

wild ginger, and bloodroot;

all stalwart parishioners.

 

I return

to pan

Summer’s rhododendron bridge,

and zoom into a cloud

of pink and white mountain laurel.

 

I return

to shoot Autumn’s

red oak and mountain ash,

to snap the sugar maple’s

red, orange, and yellow leaves,

ablaze in my continuous shutter release.

 

I return

to marvel at the hypnotic revelation

that is the Gunks.

 

I return

in Winter

to photograph the glacial majesty,

the mirror images in footprints left behind

to find the divine in a frosty pine.

 

I return

to capture

the golden light

the blue hour and the twilights

in slow water and ice.

 

My focus

devout

day in and day out.

 

I return.

I return.

I return.

 

http://www.corneliadedona.com

http://cornelia-dedona.pixels.com/

 

9 comments

  1. Thank you for publishing this poem. It is especially poignant for me as I grew up here and have returned here after many years away in Hawaii. I believe you can go home again.

  2. Barb Whitmarsh says:

    LIKE THIS POEM A GREAT DEAL.

    I LOVE UPSTATE NY. ITS GORGEOUS.
    I’VE STAYED MANY TIMES AT THE MOHONK MT HOUSE.
    I MET AN ELDERLY MAN WHO LIVED THERE ALL YEAR ‘ROUND
    HE INVENTED THE OLIMPIC CAMERA. WOW!

  3. Sara Etgen-Baker says:

    sounds like a compelling place in any season. Glad you’ve discovered a place of peace and reflection

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