Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
RAJ NANDY Jul 2015
Dear Friends, I have simplified the true story of
the Grand Canyon of Arizona by leaving out the
plethora of scientific details, & the various theories
of scholars about its formation! Presenting here the
more popular version for your kind appreciation!
Therefore, I have used only a part of my Notes on
the subject. Kindly don’t forget to read Part Two
later, for the total story. No need to comment in
a hurry! Thanks, -Raj.

STORY OF THE GRAND CANYON IN
VERSE : PART ONE- BY RAJ NANDY

              BACKGROUND
Our unique planet earth on which we reside,
Remains restless and dynamic, which in its
bowels it hides!
Titanic forces have been at work since our planets
formation; (App. 4.5 billion years ago)
Tectonic plates collided shaping continents,
along with quakes and volcanic eruptions!
Mighty glaciers had formed and receded, while
forces of nature did shape,
When mighty Himalayas and the Rockies rose
up, as we see them on date!
Several species evolved and of multifarious kind,
Leaving a trail of geological mysteries behind!
Geologists have tried to figure out what caused
the rugged Rockies to rise,
From miles below the surface of the earth,
stretching across 3000 miles;
Across New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and
Montana, all the way up into North Canada;
To become the longest mountain chain of
North America!
The Geologists speculate that the heavier
Pacific Oceanic Plate, had moved northwest
under the North American Plate;
And as a result of this geological seduction
and embrace,
A split had opened up in the American West!
Such mountain building activity or ‘Orogeny’,
Had occurred in several phases during Earth’s
evolving history!
But mostly it occurred during the ‘Age of the
Dinosaurs’ in the Mesozoic Age,
Around 100 to 200 million years hence!
Now cutting across million years of Geological
History,
I come to the Colorado Plateau to commence
my Grand Canyon Story!

THE COLORADO PLATEAU
The awesome forces which raised the Rocky
Mountain Chains, also raised the Colorado
Plateau at a later time once again!
But during the Plateau’s gradual rise there was
surprisingly no devastation,
As the well preserved sedimentary layers rose
up with the Plateau without deformation!
Like an elevator traveling upwards this Plateau
gradually rose,
Along with its several embedded rock layers,
with which it was composed!
The Plateau is scattered over an area of some
1300,000 square mile as we know;
Going clockwise it covers Arizona, Utah, Colorado,
and the State of New Mexico!
Within this rugged area are located the Grand
Canyon, Grand Staircase, Bryce and Zion Canyon,
Arches, National Bridges, Monument Valley,
Glen Canyon, and Lake Powell.
It was Major John Wesley Powell a Geologist,
a brave solder and an explorer,
Who during the 19th century had mapped the
entire Grand Canyon area;
By sailing down the treacherous rapid infested
and uncharted Colorado River!
During the American Civil War Powell’s right
hand was amputated,
God bless his soul for the work he had initiated!
(
The area from Bryce Canyon down to the Grand Canyon
is referred to as the ‘Grand Staircase’ due to the existing
land features!)

THE SOUTHERN RIM OF THE PLATEAU
Standing near the edge of more easily accessible
Southern Rim, one gets captivated by the sculptured
beauty and brilliant colors of sedimentary rock layers;
Which also captivated the imagination of tourists,
geologists, painters and explorers!
Geologists have opined, that till 80 million years, this
area was inundated by the Sea several times;
By dating the limestone and marine fossils on the
top Kaibab Limestone Layer they now find!
The lowest rock basement of this Plateau the
Vishnu Schist, dated as a third of our Earth’s
total age, still exists! (Dated as 1.5 billion years.)
Yet the dominant color of the layers of the
Canyon is of a reddish kind,
Due to iron deposits in the layers that we find!
Standing on the edge of the Southern Rim one
is struck by the grand panoramic view and its
macro immensity !
Gazing into a 1500 meter deep gorge carved into
nearby horizontal sedimentary rocks, - a stark
reality,
Where Man becomes aware of his own micro
fragility!
These layers were deposited 500 million years ago,
Prior to the elevation of the Colorado Plateau!
Viewing this testament to Nature’s magnificence,
Man loses himself for a while, to become transfixed
in space and time!
Though there are other deeper canyons in this
world we know, but none are more impressive
or grander;
So Major Powell named it the ‘Grand Canyon’,
which had also made him to wonder!

GRAND CANYON AND THE COLORADO RIVER
The Grand Canyon stretches from Lake Powell near
Utah-Arizona boarder right up to Lake Mead,
Is around 277 miles long with a max width of 18 miles,
and a max depth of around 6000 feet!
The Canyon proper is located in the northwestern
portion of Arizona, in the midst of the Grand Canyon
National Park,
Where the Colorado River bisects this Park into
Northern and Southern halves!
The Northern Rim is a 1000 feet higher and is ideal
for rafters, trekkers, and cliff climbers.
The better connected South Rim has around 5 million
visitors annually!
But the affluent few with lesser time, visit the glass-
bottom horseshoe shaped ‘Skywalk’ in the western
section, in Hualapai Indian Reservation territory!

             CONCLUDING PART ONE :
The question that intrigue Geologists and the visitors
alike, is how the Colorado River did shape,
The mighty Canyon through this great depth?
Before giving you the answer in Part Two
I must pause here to quote,
Lines from the poem “Grand Canyon” which
Lisa A Williams once wrote; -
“I look to the depths far, far below,
To crevices and caverns formed long ago.
To twisting trails, ledges steep,
Winding rivers with pools so deep! ..........
Cascades of color with each sunrise,
Golden walls with lavender hues,
Shades of pink and smoky blues.
Rainbows of stone, dance in fading light,
Lengthening shadows, with approaching
night . …………….
A brush in hand the painter can see,
The miracle of nature and all it can be.
Trying to capture the beauty of age,
Seems impossible with human gauge!
So much to take in, the eyes try to behold,
An ancient image of creation so bold.
Formed by ice and melting snow,
An artist’s canvas sketched long ago!”
-  by Lisa A Williams.

Dear readers, later in the second part of this
story,
I shall conclude by telling you how the
Colorado River in all its pristine glory,
Carved out this vast Canyon through million
years of our Earth’s History!
Part two will be posted later after a break
surely,
Thanks for reading patiently, from Raj Nandy
of New Delhi.
*ALL COPYRIGHTS ARE WITH THE AUTHOR ONLY
Nat Lipstadt Sep 2013
Prahu opines re the mathematics of love

Her equations hypotenuse me,
So I write adjacently,
As if we were cosine functionalities.

A special formula,
A Hyperbolic Cosine,
For to equate love mathematically,
We must use verbal hyperbole.

Binomials,  the pair of loves,
Coefficient Trekkers,
On the mountains of waves,
To a product infinite.

So let us,
Reductio ad absurdum
That love is pointless.

Nah, nope.


Love is the point on a curve
that never stops moving,
Even as the curve forever, bending
And the possibilities,
Exponential...
In the sums of love,
The finite answer is always two.

So let us be clear,
This exercise has made me late
For work,
For which
I express my appreciation as follows:

X = xo,

Or

Summation Expansion
  e e=  1 / n!
= 1/1 + 1/1 + 1/2 + 1/6 + ... see constant e
  e -1 =  (-1) n / n!
= 1/1 - 1/1 + 1/2 - 1/6 + ...
  e x =  xn / n!
= 1/1 + x/1 + x2 / 2 + x3 / 6 + ...
Prabhu Iyer · 3 hours ago
Singularity
My heart rate, sine wave usually, goes
sine squared when I see you,
sine cubed when I approach you,
woh, Dirac-delta when I hear you!

How do I heal this singularity?
Now how do I extract the real part
from your complex valued smile at me?
Euler says, it all goes in circles anyways.

So, I decide to cast a phasor P
that intersects the line H bisecting
your heart plane, such that H · P  = 0.
Can Cupid tell dot product from cross?
Black Jewelz Feb 2016
"And his voice carried on."
The words echo like a spirit through the air of the desert land.
They continued the search for him at every dawn.
All that's endured are legends of this special man.

The village awaits, while the trekkers search ... And search. They tarry on.

Spent, they return as the sun sets ... The town chants: "And his voice carried on."

What was once a world of blue and green is now arid & bare.
Society collapsed under the weight of false ideologies and greed.
Souls are choked in the grasp of a common stare.
They starve for truth more than any carnal need.

And his voice carried on.

They've heard his words are power.
They've been told his voice has golden wings.
They've heard his essence towers.
They've been told and told ... They've never seen ... They've only been told these things.

Civilization is naught but a sentient species stained.
Only a village remains.

The villages tarries on.

They used to scorn him.
Now they mourn him.

The trekkers search on,
In pursuit of the fountains that flow from his speech.
As the people thirst on,
Desperate for the day he comes within reach.

He is alive.

And he is free.

He thrives.

I know it ...

Because I am he.

The last poet.


And his voice carries on.
Qualyxian Quest Apr 2023
With my sins and hopes and fears
Still I venture forth
Savannah in the South
Toledo in the North

Tired but trouble sleeping
To sleep perchance to dream
Hit a bump, Donald Trump,
Hit a bump and somebody screamed

Grateful for my place
Books, movies, records
Please protect my little town
Give us boldly Trekkers

Not too eventful
Diner ordinary
Do not go to Mass
Do ask Mother Mary

           Hope!
ymmiJ Feb 2023
the sad truth remains
no intelligent life here
beam us up, scotty
rhbee Feb 2014
Robert Ardrey posed the question for the ages
When he offered up his treatise on rats in cages.
As space recedes, said he, the pace of life leaves us no
Time to breathe, crowds in, forces us to cross against
The yellow to red light, doesn’t wait nor hesitate.
While the breath of fresh air becomes the fetid exhale,
Heat, the result of speed,
Expands each encounter’s
Press
Sure as a cavein cuts off
Light
Turns day into night, begins the claustrophobic’s fright.
Crushed against each other, each instant seems longer and so the
Press
Sure grows – We move – Race against
The red light or even more (maddeningly)
Cruise through it at the end of the line obdurately refusing to look left or Right.
You know this truth even as you sit in denial waiting for the last car to
Hurtle
Past and the cars behind you begin their honking cry
All ready to race to where the next lights lie. And even each recognition of this act of speed compressing,
Instead of giving us peace,
Becomes another form of the press
Sure to push us even faster.
Ever closer to the edge that’s despair. Consumed, subsumed . . .
Our terror turning ist.
And meanwhile, there it is blinking, the cursor light winking,
With it’s only eye – telling us
That it’s Pentium (TM) process can take us there,
Race us there out into inner space,
Our gameboys palmpiloted.
Our implanted synapses
Imploding at Warp 8.
Which seems great, until
We realize like the Star Trekkers we so wish we were
That that is the speed at which our universe begins to disintegrate,
Begins to un relate.
And only Super (the person that is) man can reverse our fate,
Can retract the boarding gate,
Can reinvent the late great time when we all had a little  SPACE . . .
Julie Grenness Mar 2017
Off to a distant planet,
In a spaceship with our best,
What would you take, Nasa?
What of our culture really matters?
Books of lit. and Maths,
Maybe faith, perhaps,
Music, art and maps,
Or a book of isms.
to start new religions,
or the history of the human race,
Send it all into outer space,
In a spaceship with our best,
Star trekkers one day, I guess,
Nasa's vast plan, no less......
Feedback welcome.
EssEss Apr 4
If Pablo Picasso's name doesn't ring a bell, it is indeed a rarity,
Welcome to Malaga, Picasso's birthplace - an unique identity,
Known for his exquisite paintings & sculptures, Picasso is a legend,
That his work is still considered sensational, need not be questioned

As Costa del Sol's capital, Malaga in Spain's Andalusia is a vibrant coastal city,
Lying along a wide bay of the Mediterranean Sea, it constantly bustles with activity,
Excellent weather all-year round, renders it an idyllic tourist haven,
It's mountain geography and sun-drenched beaches - delight for a travel maven

The city is replete with a profusion of museums, daring street art and eateries,
Add to it, centuries-old heritage and beaches, that always hold pleasant memories,
Delightful pedestrianized centers and stunning views add to the city's intrigue,
Casual strolls to several picturesque locales hardly gives room for any fatigue

The hilltop Arab palace fortress of Alcazaba provides panoramic sweeping sea views,
Roman marble pillars & Moorish horseshoe arches add to stunning architectural hues,
The once coastal-facing defense of Plaza de Armas now features beautiful gardens,
Evocative vast courtyards & bubbling fountains yield a pathway that seldom straightens

A Picasso museum visit is unmissable on the itinerary for anyone visiting Malaga,
The stamp of conceptual brilliance seen in the exhibits makes art lovers go gaga,
The manner in which cubism art has been displayed is thoughtfully amazing,
Picasso's  genius is reflected in his works and was perhaps his way of proclaiming

The majestic Cathedral de Malaga is situated right in the historic town's center,
A blend of Gothic, Renaissance & Baroque architectural styles adds to the splendor,
The grand marble staircase and a beautiful assortment of frescoes are a visual treat,
The vast colonaded nave, housing an enormous cedar-wood choir stall, is no mean feat

The Carmen Thyssen Museum is located in an aesthetically renovated 16th-century palace,
It features an unique cocktail of paintings with thematic variations, not in the least hapless,
The almost cartoonish costumbrismo paintings are a throwback to 19th-century Spain myths,
That depicted fiestas, banditry, flamenco, bar-room brawls as if 'twas the work of a jokesmith!

Beaches in Malaga are characterized by dark, long stretches of sand skirted by lofty palm trees,
With boarded promenades, shorefronts are adorned with colorful parasols, wafting in the breeze,
Visitors swarming the beaches can be seen lazing in hammocks while basking in the sunshine,
Having all the trappings of a sunbather's paradise, that can be seen along the entire coastline

Ever experienced walking along a walkway dangling up to 100 meters in the air?
Its Caminito del Rey, pinned along the steep hills of a narrow gorge - indeed rare,
Parts of the route clinging recklessly to the sheer rock face of the gorge are awe-inspiring,
While completely safe, the linear 8-km walk can cause vertigo and culminate in respiring

This walkway was once dubbed the most dangerous hike in Spain - yet, so far from reality,
Multi-layered landscapes encompass reservoirs, mountains, gorges & valleys in totality,
The accompanying guide regales trekkers with the canyon's fascinating history and folklore,
While numerous selfie-worthy clicks of the breath-taking dizzy views, are like never before

Malaga is centric for day trips to Tangier, Morocco and The Rock of Gibraltar,
It is one of the few European cities that experiences a relatively warm winter,
It's coastal location with the Mediterranean Sea wind makes summer less oppressive,
Loaded with history and a multi-layered past, is what makes the city so impressive

Malaga is a typical port city that epitomizes Andalusian lifestyle to the fullest,
The warmth and camaraderie displayed by locals can be experienced at its best,
Streets and by-lanes are always pleasantly crowded with folks in colorful attire,
A wholesome feeling of utmost satisfaction at the trip's end, is for all to aspire
a tsunami catapulted cruising skiff
skyward landing with quiet thud
across undulating infinite granular waves
formerly solid state rocks and minerals

optimism vibrant upon initial unforeseen
crash asper for test dummies
foundered as undertow fostered diminishing hope
initial faith for survival quickly ebbed

nsync with retreating tidal wave
pessimism dreamt fantastical holograms
farther from beached berth
immediately transformed into quicksand,

while off in the distance
a glimmering chimera
(the first of many) appeared
amidst the desert sands one mirage

after another falsely broken promise
buoyed drained salvation
quick decision decreed each man for himself
thus disseminating banded bruited "brothers"

condemnation, damnation, excoriation, fulmination
hurled at cosmic creator thwarting intercession
dehydration, exhaustion, ingratiation, jubilation
foretold merciless portentous demise

witheringly desiccating lovely bones of mine
no doubt raw elements of nature wrought
fate worse than death sans, cabin "mates"
lost among expanse of whittled quartz

across chronometer measuring millions of years
now subjecting one measly mortal i.e. me
to cruel unforgiving, unrelenting,
unwelcoming petty coated junction

blistering hot wind obliterated
fellow travelers convoy deeply
within diabolical dunes
eternally erased doom

awaited for 21st century explorers
to discover scattered wreckage
both beast of burden, outrigged contrivance
and starry trekkers, who vanished without a trace

a handful of scrappy rapscallion existences
blotted (like ink, oil, or other liquid sponged),
where subsequent seasons
of wicked bewitched slow torture

akin to being raked over hot coals
exception made for this interminable sufferer
at the whim of sadistic
persona non grata evil spirit

n'er obliterating diehard survivor instinct
a foreigner to yours truly
but atavistic primitive fight or flight
witnessed relieved whence absently blinking

this life married to indiscriminate
clamped, harried, styled devilishness
evaporated in thin air
upon tentatively opening myopic brown eyes
horror, twas boot a dream.
Andreas Simic Jul 2022
four strapping teens surveying a map
the adventure of a lifetime in waiting
an expedition through backcountry

    10 days 4 portages backpacks at the ready
    paddles yearning to be dipped into glossy waters
    an excruciating two hour drive for excited trekkers

launching canoes with but a trail & compass
crackling fires stoking companionship
seeking warmth from the crisp nighttime air

    tents hoisted while listening to nature’s rhythm
    crawling into sleeping bags serenaded by croaking frogs
    exhaustion from a day of paddling bringing deep sleep

bright sunny dawn the wakeup call for rising
roaring campfire ready for pots and pans
breakfast cooked on an open flame a treat

    time to pack amidst an onslaught of mosquitoes
    drizzling day a reminder to the voyageurs of the past
    portages carrying canoes overhead long & arduous

standing on the shores of turbulent Lake Opeongo
her challenges
beckon us

Andreas Simic©
Algonquin, canoe, adventure,
Sumit Ganguly Dec 2016
The wish trekkers
invented speed- wheelers
for feather rides
in ebb or tides.

We call these- automobiles
which frequently change plumes and styles.
We invest sweats for comforts,
save time and use in trades or sports.

Their utility changed from luxuries to necessities
now these run in frontiers, villages and cities.

4th Dec.2016
wordvango Aug 2014
As sitting on its side i see
a highway
silent now, empty
that once bore so much industry,
now modified by
free enterprise,
that of course lacks memory
of any past, of
trekkers who have lived-
buried dreams on this path-
lonely now
black asphalt
going nowhere
receiving no remorse.
Big Virge Sep 2021
Now...
George Peppard Was The Man...  
  
Who... Liked To See A Plan...
... REALLY Come Together... !!!
  
Because His A-Team Fellas...
Had To Wage Vendettas...
Against Those Whose Agendas...
  
Were Causing Nuff’ STRESS...
To Heads Being DISTRESSED...
By... IGNORANT Heads...
Who Were Making Big Threats...
To... Get Rid of Them... !!!
  
So... Hannibal Smith...
Was The One Whose Lyric...
Made The Show A BIG HIT...
With... Adults And Kids... !!!
  
Because The A-Team...
Was A Show That Was Clean...
  
Even With... Mr T...
As A Man Who Was MEAN... !!!
  
Because NOBODY DIED...
Even When They Would Fight...
To Make Criminals Hide...
Whenever They Tried...
To RUIN The Lives...
of People Just Trying...
To Simply... SURVIVE... !!!
  
So The A Team Would Plan...
By Using... FACEMAN’...
Whose Planning Was Slick...
When It Came To The Chicks...
  
While... Other Plans Ran...
In Ways That Would Crash...
Cos’ They Were Murdoch MAD... !?!
  
And Of Course There Was Amy...
A... VERY SMART Lady...
  
Whose Planning Involved...
Using MORE Than Her Thong... !!!
  
Because The Series Showed...
How Good Planning Controls...
And... DISMANTLES Foes... !!!
  
So Here’s Where This Piece...
Takes A... DIFFERENT Tone...
And Plans To Now Seek...
  
The Truth About Plans...
To Control This Disease...
That’s Now Spread Overseas... !!!
  
Cos’ The Plan Seems To Be...
To Now Feed A VACCINE...
To MILLIONS of Folks...
ALL OVER The Globe...
  
And This Is NO JOKE... !!!
Like The A-Team Show... !!!
  
It’s A... SERIOUS PLAN... !!!
That’s Now Come Together... !!!
  
To Leave Corona TRAPPED... !!!
And To Make Things Much Better...
For... EVERY HUMAN... !!!
  
Than Things CLEARLY Have Been...
Throughout TWENTY TWENTY... !!!
  
Well...... ALLEGEDLY...... ?!?
  
Now I’m No Mr. T...
But My Attitude Is...
As BAD As Can Be... !!!
  
When It Comes To Me Taking...
A RUSHED Through Vaccine... !?!
  
That Seems To Have Been...
AVOIDING What’s Deemed...
To Be Something It NEEDS... !!!
  
Like A...  
... CLEAN Bill HEALTHY... !!!
  
That Has Passed Policies...
Put In Place To ENSURE...
That... This Is A CURE...
  
WITHOUT BAD Side Effects...
That Could Unsettle Heads...
Or Lead To MORE Deaths... !!!
  
So It SHOULDN'T Break Laws...
For It To Be Given...
To Millions of Minions...
  
WITHOUT The Approvals...
From... Health Agencies...
That Are Normally Usual...
In... EMERGENCIES... !!!!!
  
Where It’s Felt Vaccinations...
Are NEEDED In Nations...
In... Different Locations...
ALL OVER The WORLD... !!!
  
To... STOP A New Curve...
That Plans To Make WAVES...
That Are FAR From Humane... !!!
  
When This Thing Attacks...
Like Hackers Who HACK...
Like... Terrorist Clans... !!!!
  
That **** Folks In Silence...
Just Like This NEW VIRUS... !!!
  
That...
Could of Been PLANNED... ?!?
  
But Can Such Thoughts Be Backed...
By Proof Or By... FACT...
  
Somehow I Doubt That... !!!
  
But Planned It May Be...
To Keep... HUMANITY...
CONTROLLED Just Like Sheep... !!!
  
Well... SHEOPLE’ Really... !!!!!!
  
Or Do... Conspiracies...
Plan To Use Trends And Feeds...
To Confuse All The Minds...
of Those Now INCLINED...
  
To... Follow The Plan...
To Now Save Us Humans...
  
From... Viral Infections...
That Leave Humans Lessened...
  
According To Those...
In These Government Folds...
Whose Plans CLEARLY Show...
  
How They... LIE And Implode...
Due To Plans That Have Holes...
  
MUCH BLACKER Than Those...
On Those OLD TV Shows... !!!
Where Trekkers Would Go...
In Ways That Were BOLD... !!!
  
Like The Plans We Now See...
That Surround This Disease...
That Has Wrecked Companies...
And World Economies... !!!
  
If You Read And Believe...
What The Media Feeds...
That Is Currently Seen...
As LIES And FALLACIES...
  
By MORE And MORE Peeps...
Whose Thinking Now Sees...
That These Government Bans...
And The Plans That They Have...
  
Have NOT Come Together...
To Make Things Get Better...
  
So Are Sensing A SHAM... !?!
  
That Could Just Be Part of...
Some... SINISTER...
  
....... “ Plan “.......
There are certain plans, that, may not be those that humanity needs to come together !
Snug Air Conditioned Demesne...

Analogous to my boyhood
     cosseted and bereft, I assay
to poetically elucidate how majority
     of mine years found me
     deft keeping danger at bay
only thru the pour substitute
     of my imagination
     remaining safe within the causeway

of a quasi Norman Rockwell picturesque
     unblemished near utopian day,
where ******* up "FAKE" danger
     stoked courtesy of
     anticipatory anxiety didst essay
when pinhead size
     pores faux stressed
     every epidermal square inch

     populating skin oozing perspiration
     along I-59 pro Roman
     lix spittle sweaty freeway
precipitated, via illusory mailer daemons
     unavoidably pitching me
     into an inescapable fray
unlike late twenty somethings
     (Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan,

     whose cruel fate
     at the hands of Isis militants
     published online by Irish Times),
evinced carpe diem
     existential Great Gatsby
live life to the fullest
     created an extraordinary journey
     (now forever immortalized as

     daring adventurist trekkers)
     with ample horseplay
deliberately, egregiously, fanatically
and waantonly killed,
     when purely exalting in zest
promulgated by indomitable spirit
     found me choked up,
     a baby boomer i.e. west

tern civilized married bloke,
     who opted to die vest
away from blatant uncertainty
     never daring to experience unrest
outside a severely circumscribed perimeter,
     exempt from a life
     and death litmus test,
where very little harm extant,

     when taking repast or rest
only ushering, venturing,
     and taking, sans
     quotidian cerebral quest
ensconced within four walls
     without nary a pest
except...pet peeves of mine
     within psyche built a nest,

nonetheless hounded by many a vicious beast
whose predatory cannibalistic feast
comprises thine psychological state greased
with until mortality expires,
     asper being temporarily lend leased.

— The End —