Mellow Canyon Music Poem by Bill Galvin

You drop into Oak Creek Canyon on 89A
Driving the 30 miles south from Flagstaff to Sedona.
A few hairpin turns halfway there take you into the canyon,
Thousands of feet down from the flat Colorado Plateau;
From there you descend another 1000 feet
In an easy-grade 12 miles or so,
With spectacular views of red sandstone buttes
Ahead and alongside as you enter Sedona.
Occasionally, you are near the river's rocky banks,
Other times, hundreds of feet above, on a cliff side,
Or, crossing a gorge on a short bridge.

I headed back up the narrow canyon from Sedona today,
For to have an evening sandwich in a quiet place.
I found the picnic area I had seen when arriving days ago.
No one else there, I selected the choicest spot.

The road sound is very light, so, I am able to concentrate…
On the cool canyon breeze brushing the new oak leaves,
The pinyon pine, and the manzanita bushes;
On the soothing sounds of rushing waters,100 feet below;
On reflected light, as the sun drops behind high eroded buttes;
All this allowing the subtle meditative emptying of the mind
When in a place of quiet interlude and breathing space.

After visions and sounds meld into melody,
And my mind is sufficiently refreshed,
The ride back downhill is with a low sun,
Peeking around corners, and through side slot canyons,
Creating almost gilded, orange-red, lit up rock formations
In ways that gift the mind's eye and let the soul smile.

5-9-2016