My Mother is Timpanogos.
Laying down her body on the jagged rocks.
Willing to jump for love.
The valleys and people below her are nourished.
The orchards ripen with fruit.
Her song is always a beautiful solo.
She sacrifices herself so the dew will dance in spring.
At Summer’s end, she hangs on to the snow still left over from last winter.
She holds on to it even when others
have forgotten that winter will come again.
My Father is Shiprock.
Willing to stand on his own.
He sails where there is no water.
His skin darkened with Sun.
The ship finds a way to keep moving.
Through the vast desert basin he keeps his compass fixed on the stars.
The rain doesn’t come often, but when it does it carves sand from his heart.
The sand slowly makes it’s way down the San Juan river
and passes trees planted by his ancestors.
It passes by Hogans, Medicine men and Mormon elders trading.
It see’s a little boy hiding next to the river dreaming of sailing far away.
— Ben Tanner (for my parents Ron & Jane Tanner)
3/30/2014
My mother grew up in Orem, Utah in the shadows of Mt. Timpanogos. My father grew up in Kirtland, New Mexico not far from Shiprock.