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Three Poems and a Mountain

August 26, 2023 by Logan James Garner 4 Comments

A small place. A large place.
Where I do not fit but have landed,
we are small and large at once, or so I’ve read.
Our being is and is and is, or so it said.

Here, in a nook of the trembling landscape
where hills push up and back, away from
the crying ocean whose breath is wind,
She looks to her older Rocky cousins.
But it is no less, the Mystery here,
than in those high, sparse places in the biting east.
Lush green and primordial, but eternally young,
somehow, too. She sings.

The Beastly Mound, thing of hunched shoulders
settled into nightly mist and clothed with
weeping cedar and fir, gathering air and memory.
The Low-High Place: Neah-Kah-Nie.

Filed Under: Featured Writing, Poetry

About Logan James Garner

Logan Garner lives and writes in Warrenton, Oregon. His poetry and fiction have been featured in the Elevation Review, Flying Island, The Purpled Nail and others. The 2023 recipient of the Neahkahnie Mountain Poetry Prize, his first poetry collection is Here, in the Floodplain (Plan B Press, 2023). You can find him on Instagram at @logangarnerpoetry

Comments

  1. Watt Childress says

    August 26, 2023 at 10:39 am

    She sings, absolutely, and inspires poets to open our hearts and join in the songs. Thank you Logan for harmonizing with Mystery!

    Reply
    • Logan James Garner says

      October 9, 2023 at 12:06 pm

      Thank you kindly, Watt, for the opportunity to create and to share! “Harmonizing with Mystery”…this phrase says it all. Cheers to you.

      Reply
  2. Darrell Clukey says

    August 29, 2023 at 8:58 am

    Thank you, Logan, for your poem. It does the mountain justice, giving it a sense of place and size, while keeping it unique; for it is in a special setting of grandeur and mystery. It is a “trembling landscape” of its own as you intimate, and I feel closer to the “Beastly Mound” having read your words.

    Reply
    • Logan James Garner says

      October 9, 2023 at 12:08 pm

      I so appreciate these kind words, thank you Darrell. Very glad to hear from a reader that they have some impact. I love what one poem can do differently to and for each person reading it.

      Reply

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Readers’ Comments

  • Watt Childress April 28, 2025 at 11:48 am on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltAlso, you inspired me to insert a sentence crediting Hoyt Axton with the song's genesis. Many thanks!
  • Watt Childress April 27, 2025 at 10:55 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltThank you kindly Jim for reading this and commenting. I enjoyed your review of "Sun House" by David James Duncan,
  • Jim Stewart April 27, 2025 at 8:26 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltNice! Hoyt Axton wrote the Jeremiah song and sang it with great gusto. Life wanders on and I'm still glad
  • Watt Childress April 26, 2025 at 3:51 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltDuring spring I think of you, and all the May Pole celebrations you've organized over the years. So grateful for
  • Watt Childress April 26, 2025 at 3:18 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltIn my dreams I sing to the multitudes, with a voice as clear and sweet and churchy as Lou Reed.
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