<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 2.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Times"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Riprap</font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times; min-height: 14.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></font></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 22px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Lay down these words</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Before your mind like rocks.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> placed solid, by hands</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">In choice of place, set</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Before the body of the mind</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> in space and time:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> riprap of things:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Cobble of milky way,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> straying planets,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">These poems, people,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> lost ponies with</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Dragging saddles—</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> and rocky sure-foot trails.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">The worlds like an endless</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> four-dimensional</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Game of Go.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> ants and pebbles</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">In the thin loam, each rock a word</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> a creek-washed stone</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Granite: ingrained</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> with torment of fire and weight</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Crystal and sediment linked hot</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"> all change, in thoughts,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">As well as things.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; min-height: 23px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><span style="font: 12.0px Times"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>- Gary Snyder</font></div></body></html>