South Twin Mountain

Ray Cicetti

stands like a broad-shouldered sphinx
high above hawk’s cries and cloud shadows
that parade through the valley below. 

I stand on the summit, drop my pack
take off my boots and feel a stillness
beyond what I can know—  

like an uninvited guest
who has wandered into possibilities.
Violence seems distant now  

the green slopes and mountainside
are silent save the call of circling crows
and the rubbing of trees

that sound like a doors rusty hinge.
The landscape sings.
The land and mountains, full of poems.

What would it be like, I wonder to stand as
the mountain? I mean a conscious mountain
walking, talking, full of poems the rest of my days.

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Ray Cicetti
Ray Cicetti's poems have been published in a wide variety of journals, including: The Galway Review, The Stillwater Review, and The Deep Wild Poetry Journal. Ray has published two books of poems, A Forest in His Pocket (2020) and Songs of Love & Longing( 2023). He is a senior teacher at the Empty Bowl Zen Community and lives with his wife Carolyn in northern New Jersey