Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Pecos River

The Pecos River
by Linda Starr

A late spurt of warmth
made berry blossoms burst forth
only to be pushed asunder again
with the next cold winter wind

Cottonwood leaves blew to and fro
gripping tightly in their maize colored glow
rocking and reeling like a piece of bait,
the Pecos River below their ultimate fate.

I can't even put into words the place we discovered alongside the Pecos River long ago. We were traveling in the Fall in the early 1990s and took a dirt road off the main highway somewhere in New Mexico. It was on one of many trips we've taken looking for our next home. A few years later we ended up in Arkansas, but that's another story. As we traveled down a long and dusty road we got further and further from civilization. The only reason we kept going was because we could see the road was still in use.


As we drove down the dirt road we saw fields of grass bordered by huge cottonwood trees. The circumference of the trees was so large I couldn't even imagine their size. I felt these trees must have been there when the Native Americans wandered and the Conquistadors traveled there years before. When we take these type of roads I'm always urging Gary to go a little further, just a little further to see what we might discover. This must have been around the time my 35 mm camera had broken and I didn't have a camera because I have no photos to show you. Yesterday I found my journal from the 1990s and the poem and drawings are copied from there. More than twenty years ago, could it be that long ago?


After what seemed like many miles and an hour or so later, we came to a small town with dirt streets and a few adobe and wood frame buildings. There might have been ten or fifteen buildings dotted here and there but none close to one another. After we meandered slowly through town we came to the edge of a cliff and the Pecos River lay below. Cottonwood trees dotted the edge on our side of the river. The cottonwood bark had deep fissures and seemed hard as nails. The river had cut a deep gorge into the earth and the face of the bluff on the other side was lined with uneven layers of rock down to where they met the water, perhaps 30 feet below.

I remember doing these drawings as preliminary sketches for two quilts I might make in the future. Now I think I might make a deeply carved tile or perhaps a painting with the cottonwood trees, the river bank, and the Pecos River. I remember the sky was very blue that day and there were big puffy white clouds drifting high in the sky above. Here's another poem I found in my journal but had a question mark at the end. I guess I never finished it, but I guess I did.

Rippling and swirling over rocks and round spurs
Of land once settled by the Conquistadors
Everything in its path held in it's throes
Breathing and snuffing life as it goes.

Coyote, juniper, Native American alike
the river they learned was their right
A trickle, a burst, a torrent each season
Animal, plant, and man lived by this reason.

What I wouldn't give to be standing on the banks of the Pecos River once again; to be traveling down the road just a little further. This post is part of Artists in Blogland. Thanks for reading and for all your comments

12 comments:

  1. Dropped by through Artists in Blogland I'll have to let my 17 yr old daughter know about your Etsy she loves pottery.

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  2. who needs a camera when you have a journal with drawings and poetry to take you back there! what great adventures you have had.

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  3. I love those off-the-beaten-path trips that produce treasured moments. Cottonwood trees can grow to be enormous. I once found one at the edge of a cemetery bordered by a wetland that was so big it would take three people to reach around it.
    I'm so impressed by your unbridled creativity!

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  4. That's a great treasure to find. :) Sketches are lovely.

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  5. Hello, and thanks for stopping by. Your work is lovely. Have you exhibited at shows? Perhaps Sugarloaf.

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  6. This discovery obviously made a huge impression on you that you captured so well in words but smartly also in drawings.

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  7. The Pecos river is not far from where I live. Glad that you got a chance to spend some time there. So many lovely places in the Southwest! Have a nice weekend!

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  8. Great vision of this place and some lovely poetry. xox

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  9. Hi Mary, thanks, have your daughter check my etsy shop or if she sees something she likes here I can put it in the shop for her.

    Hi Michele, thanks, it was so long ago hard to remember exactly how it looked probably not the same any more any way.

    Hi Ms. Sparrow, thanks, yes I read they can get huge, and their bark is so gnarly.

    Hi Natasha May, thanks, I've got to go through it and see what else is in there.

    Hi Joanne, thanks, yes I've been in shows and gone to some art fairs if they are close by and I have my work in three galleries and more to come. Always room for more galleries to show my work.

    Hi Patti, thanks, I forgot all about it till I saw my notes in my journal, kind of cool.

    Hi Becky, thanks, the name Pecos sounds wonderful too doesn't it. I love traveling in the southwest, hopefully I'll get to again some time soon.

    Corine, thanks, the cliff and the landscape and the quietness were wonderful there, like a step back in time.

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  10. Really, really enjoyed your sketches. I've always wanted to see the Pecos River. There are so many legends around it with such a deep history.

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  11. Great story on the Pecos River. Loved your sketches as much as your pottery! Beautiful. xoxo

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  12. Hi Kittie, thanks, it has been so long since I was there I doubt if I could find that special spot, but it was definitely a place to enjoy.

    Hi Pauline, thanks, it was one of those places so magical and seemly untouched by modern civilization I couldn't help but be transported back in time.

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