Colorado College Bulletin If You Listen Poems by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer '92 Photos of the San Juan Mountains by Eileen Benjamin

"climbing the ridge" "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.” -- Lao-tzu one step one step i stop i take one breath one breath warm sun above white snow below i breathe i take one step one step

"aspen on the bank of the san miguel" pile high its gold and orange leaves for an afternoon’s autumn nap collect long-fallen limbs to fortify your fence but don’t break its branches to kindle your camp fire don’t cut its trunk to build your fine chair for when winter comes and the san miguel stills the snow flakes will look so beautiful lingering in naked aspen arms

"if you listen" the snow falls with no sound standing outside in its silence you find yourself listening to listening but oh, this snow knows symphony its score is written on every mountain, every tree, each rooftop, each street as each snowflake falls a silent beat a voiceless song composed by sky performed by icicle, avalanche, slush and ski if you listen you’ll hear it echoing the snow is silent and still it sings

"let me come to this valley" "This is the only paradise we may ever know.”-- Albert York let me come to this white valley in silence, wordless, willing to learn the syntax of sunlight in icicle spine, willing to study the phonology of wind in arching pine tree spire let me be versed in poems of snow crystal, legends of moon, epics of conniving sky this is the only paradise i may ever know, and i am a bumbling foreigner, still trying to learn the language

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer '92 lives at the treeline above Telluride, Colo., with her husband, Eric.  She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and from the Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities.  Business and Professional Women of the United States recently named her National Young Careerist of the year.  She teaches poetry in the schools, leads poetry seminars and, since 1998, has served as director of the Telluride Writer's Guild.  This is her second book. Eileen Benjamin is recognized as one of Colorado's most accomplished black-and-white photographers.  Her work has been shown in Southwest Art, Art of the American West, and Architectural Digest.  Eileen's photographs are included in personal and corporate collections throughout the United States and abroad.  Eighty varnished photographs also appear in her new book, Telluride: Landscapes and Dreams, by Montoya Publishing. Back to Index