Karst Topography Poem by Alizon Kiel

A survey
Found that I was made of limestone
Some fingernail scratches will leave marks forever
I was said to be made of migrated oceans
Skeletons of lives unseen ground in
To make me

Doled out and then made cavernous
Cave upon cave opened up in fissures
Sucking down rainfall
Just to recharge

By now so much had surged over me
Parts of me had sunk
Into an open basin that had mostly received without filling

A stream
Rarely could be seen and most certainly could not form on the outside
Sensual connections were never so exposed

All I had would be hidden under ground

Categorized and decided
The map already drawn
My gypsum geography
Quickly dissolving
By definition

I made up my mind to wear away


That being thought said and acted upon
A brook
Gentle rolling visible
Should have never had a place with me

Even with that being thought said and acted upon
It did
Unbelievably it did find a place

Squiggling soaking across
It found a place I could not hide

The brook
Began at a source outside of me

A source that then turned and siphoned my pool
Welling up the cool smooth
From under the smooth cool stone


The brook
The animated source casting channels
Into places for me to give back

The brook
Seeping from my skin
To be more than perceived ease

It sloshed possibility into subterranean echoes
Referred exuberance
My grottos came to life

Something became unbound in me
A swell allowed to rise up
Energy
Presence
A ground breaking

The brook
Managed to make that topographic cut

To draw me out
Until the map fell away