Meet MARILYN BALL-originally from the Uintah Basin

Marilyn Ball tells us: "As a kid growing up on a rather lonely ranch in the Uintah Basin, I appreciated nature and life, and began at age fourteen putting down my thoughts in poetry.  As time went on with much effort while in college majoring in Nursing with no electives allowed, I continued writing and won honors.  I won awards for my poems with UTSPS, League of Utah Writers, Z-Arts and in the Mesquite Fine Arts contests. UTSPS and Dixie Poets have been a great help to me in publishing a book of my poems about Lake Powell called Stepping on Water and Stones." Available for $10 from mball at sunrivertoday dot com.

ANTELOPE  CANYON

  by Marilyn Ball

Likely God saw the earth, a swirling mass,

turbulent and wild. Arms lifted, He reached

the whole, encasing all with passion peculiar,

placed it in the right confluence of the universe.

Each end of earth a trifle pointed, He said.

The middle greatness--equator.

Letting go, a step back, He decided to peel

earth’s crust, tipped this sphere upside down,

tapped, thrust, serenely set it right: great pieces

of the shell fell away, deep cracks appeared

where birth of the southwest slot canyons

were born and opened.

Sequestered by high red stone walls, one serpentine

walkway through—He stepped along, saw the light

of pink-cream beauty, a sacred, golden glow

painting the huge up thrust walls.

Meandering past curves, juts of stone, He caressed

each a last time, felt the chilled, rough stones rest.

Using His fingers, sanded a rock in the shape of a heart,

then walked on—out into the sun…