Lindsey Pritchett - Landscapes of the Sacred (MT. Rainier)

"This one is not, I think, to be known

by close scrutiny, by touch of foot or hand

or entire outstretched body; not by any 

familiarity of behavior, any acquaintance

with its geology or the scarring roads

humans have carved into its flanks. 

This mountain's power

lies in the open secret of its remote

apparition...." -Levertov

(Landscapes of the Sacred p.241)

In the section "Learning to Love Creation: The beauty of Unknowing" I came across Denise Levertov's poetry about Mt. Rainier. Living in Seattle, she writes various poems about the majestic mountain that she can see straight from her house. Her poetry reflects her views of the mountain. My paper for this class is actually includes a little bit about this topic. I go into how poetry is sort of a modern day shekinah. Especially poetry about nature. I see poetry such as Levertov's to be a shekinah because nature reveals the holy to us in some way or another. A mountain such as Tahoma, which Levertov looks at with a godlike reverence, cannot help but inspire people to write poetry such as this. The mountain is, after all, "the mountain that was god." Thus, with the harsh elements of nature and flowers that bloom in a three-week time span, there are miracles to be found everywhere on the mountain as revelations of the holy.