a brilliant
setting sun
bathes earthy
stone mountains
in golden light as a
waxing white moon
rises into pale blue sky 

ice, water, and wind 
carve flat land into
free-standing pillars,
striated in hues of 
toasted malt,
blazing ember, 
and fire dust 

whittled away with 
the elements, 
loose sediment
fans down for
swarthy green shrubs
to creep up
steep slopes

To see the photo that inspired this poem, visit Cindy Crosby’s blog, Tuesdays in the Tallgrass. The photo was offered as a writing prompt in Cindy’s Foundations of Nature Writing course through The Morton Arboretum, which I highly recommend to everyone who would like to learn to write more descriptively in any genre.