the words came over the mountains
as we rumbled around blind curves
on the dirt roads of the Andes
heart lodged high in my throat
trying to read a book, needing some air
because it all took my breath away
the words came over the mountains
the ones I could not capture
with the short lens of my Pentax
the sparkle and hues of the valleys
majestic yet humble pastoral scenes
punctuated by colorful forms with bent backs
the words came over the mountains
honking their horns before hairpin curves
casting a golden light on the clouds at my feet
nestling in the furrows of the patchwork hills
clinging to rocks like lichens above the treeline
catching my eye with your smile from the backseat
I was unaware, but those words became everything
everything I wanted to capture
everything that touched my soul
everything that made me yearn
everything that made my heart sing
everything I wanted to share
everything that brought me to my knees
everything about you
inspiring everything that was me
and wanting, wanting
to somehow give it back
wanting to whisper it in your ear
but never knowing how
-
- Mike, Andrew, Anthony, Brett, and my dad.
-
- A mud hut.
-
- Southern Ecuadorean Andes.
-
- A breathtaking view.
-
- The valley below.
-
- The clouds at our feet.
-
- Above the treeline.
-
- The ruins of Ingapirca
-
- More ruins at Ingapirca.
Today, Anthony Desmond over at Dverse challenged us to write a poem that is influenced by certain times in your life that made you the poet you are today. I can trace poem-writing to when I was 8 years old, but the desire and need to write poetry sprang up somewhere in my mid-teens. I can remember distinctly wanting to express things in a way that I had not figured out yet. So, this poem is about that time in my life, specifically about a trip through the Andes, or rather several trips that my mind has put all together into one.
“The secret of it all, is to write in the gush, the throb, the flood, of the moment… by writing at the instant the very heartbeat of life is caught.” – Walt Whitman
*Note about the photos: I originally posted a pic of my brother and I at Ingapirca because I thought that all of my other photos of the Andes were all gone. Well, the very next day after I posted this poem, while I was going through stuff, preparing to move, I found this set of photos that are all from that very trip that my poem is about! Serendipity 🙂
Lupita Eyde-Tucker is a bilingual poet and translator raised in New Jersey and Guayaquil, Ecuador. She is the winner of the 2021 Unbound Book Festival Emerging Poet Award, the 2019 Betty Gabehart Prize, and in 2018 was selected as an AWP Writer to Writer Mentee by poet Maggie Smith. In 2022 her poetry manuscript, "Eucalyptus," was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Prize from Letras Latinas. The manuscript explores her Sephardic Jewish ancestry and bi-cultural heritage.
Not Enough Poetry 
the words came over the mountains honking their horns in the hairpin curves…haha…i love it…there is something that we can capture in writing that we can not capture in pictures…and in paint…love that cascade in the last bit…there is def heart in it…smiles.
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Thank you Brian! thank you so much for stopping by too … sending you hugs.
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Wow..words that come to you like that.. almost like they swallow and engulf you.. very nice imagery… I can relate to how words and pictures of mountains can give those words.. like cascades in the mountain… cool.
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Thanks Bjorn 🙂 glad you liked it!
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I REALLY enjoyed your poem today. I like the idea of the words coming over the mountain, the ones you could not capture with your pentax. So true, that sometimes poetry can capture things that photos cannot, just as sometimes photos can capture things that poetry cannot. And ah, yes, I too (sometimes) feel that words become (almost) everything….everything we want to to preserve or share. I will say it again…I REALLY enjoyed your poem!
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Thanks Mary! From what you wrote, I get the sense that you REALLY liked my poem 😀
I honestly can say that I distinctly felt a blockage back then and a frustration compounded by being totally awed by my surroundings and one certain person.
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As someone who enjoys writing poetry as well as taking photos, I can relate to your great poem and the way you express your poetic influence. Isn’t it wonderful when we feel our words became everything we wanted them to be?
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Gabriella, yes! That is why I am so happy about Tony’s prompt, I had never explored this before … so glad to! Taking it further, I have been thinking a lot lately about my muses, and this poem was a bit of an exploration of those early muses.
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wow… I love the imagery of words coming over mountains… poetry is a way to get things out you most likely wouldn’t otherwise, or stuff you didn’t even know words could express… I dig this write a lot! thx!
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well, thank you! 🙂
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A brilliant title with which to begin. We reach deeply inward to touch our hearts and allow others to see it. As long as we have the gift of expression, we will be taken “away with words”. And you have a way with words!
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Thank you Walt, very kind of you. I truly enjoyed the subject though, which makes it a lot easier 🙂
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The words came over the mountains , I love this. A beautiful capture.
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I specially like: the words came over the mountains – You write the words with much passion ~ Thanks for the picture & look back at your journey ~
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thank you Grace for stopping by, glad you liked it 🙂
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beautifully said…
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It is beautiful, words coming over the mountains, I can see them cascading, crossing the valley onto your page. Truly lovely write.
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Thank you!
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Having been to Ecuador I can see and feel the words coming over the mountains (Andes)…along with the buses and chickens..love that you wanted to capture everything that brought you to your knees!!….T
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Thanks kkkkaty … I had a feeling you would like this one 🙂
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i love the image of how the words come over the mountains and how there are things that go way beyond what we can catch with a camera…words are so powerful
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Thanks Claudia 🙂
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