Write Your Story: N. Scott Momaday
Presented by the Leopold Writing Program in partnership with the Santa Fe International Literary Festival.
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“Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk.”
― N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain What is a landscape you have dedicated yourself? Describe your relationship to it and why you feel connected to it.
Share your answer with others in line or write your thoughts here. |
Submissions
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I walked in the same alpine meadow
Anonymous May 18, 2025 During one four year period of my life, I walked in the same alpine meadow almost every single day of the year, no matter the weather. I looked like a tourist almost every time because there was always something new to wonder and and be amazed by. There was the shifting sky and seasons, a low area that became a pond, frozen ground with water rushing under it, frogs, flowers, dried grass, many feet of snow I post holed through, I got to know every individual coyote, knew when they had pups, knew the year they had three and one of them was the weirdo of the family - bouncing for voles right out in the middle like a maniac while the rest looked on - scandalized- from the shadows. It seemed like a boring, sad time in a way - I was too poor to travel, too poor for movies or much of anything. I learned that meadow so well… and I even - for a small time that didn’t last - overcame my fear of death and annihilation in that meadow. I remember walking and it came to me that it was alright, it was all alright… I would die but I was part of this circle and death was how life continued. they are trite words - the circle of life! when you can’t be comforted - but for that time, when I felt them, it was a thorough peace… and the freedom to fully feel the delight and wonder of just getting to be alive - here! With all of you! All of us together who get to live! Here! Now! |
A baptism of awe
May 18, 2025 Susan Rhoades I am bipolar in my deep connection to the high dessert scapes of the American Southwest and the tropical marine environments of coral reefs. I moved to New Mexico as a teenager and fell in love with the ski and wide open spaces and dessert hues of the cliffs. I studied geology at the University of New Mexico and was taught to u destined the language of rocks. Which serves me both in at home and on my travels around the world since the language of rocks is universal. Traveling to the place where reefs grow, tropical latitudes, and immersing myself amongst my friends the fish and corals. A baptism of awe and peace and loveliness. The welcome sight of the Sangre de Christo mountains
May 19, 2025 Elizabeth Martinez For decades, the welcome sight of the Sangre de Christo mountains with dark shadows of running wolves held the promise of peace and safety. Driving from the Airport in Albuquerque, the images would appear , and I would release a quiet breath. "I am home," the voice said. Then my son passed away suddenly and the peace disappeared. Now the promise of memories I celebrate with images of a garden of giant Sunflowers he grew each summer, tall and brilliant like him. The mountains now smaller frame the Sunflower garden. |
