The pretty engineer took his arm
at the tunnel entrance;
They walked a mile
into the middle of the Andes,
into a frigid inferno.
"We've passed the border", she said,
facing the whine and grind
Of a giant rolling worm,
flashing sparks and lightening,
as it pushed into Argentina.
They returned to sunlight and ice,
and she handed him a stone,
An unsuccessful flirtation
as he released her hand,
but kept the rock.
She stammered about sensitivity
to air, humidity, temperature,
"In a hundred years it will be gone,
unlike love...".
He shrugged and left.
The stone, grey and white,
sat for months on a shelf,
Unchanging, leaving only dusty fingertips.
He was relieved when it was lost --
A century was too long to wait.
The feldspar image is copied from the Minerals Database of the "Minerals Education Coalition"
Very interesting, full experience you’ve given readers. A hot and cold scene, hot and cold characters, hot and cold story. The narrator comes across like the cold stone. Such delicate handling of this theme: the contrast between the two polarities.
And the rock and the geology, the heaviness, compression, longevity. The poem has these dense qualities, too.
BTW, a new member of my local Shut Up and Write Group is/worked all her career as a geologist. I just checked out her Substack. Beautiful rendering of the value of the earth, stories, essays, photos. She remains passionate about advocating for this big, verdant, watery planet we’re on. See earthtosusan.substack.com
Bluster & Absurdity 
…glad to have been the ultimate flirtation and that you made it to Argentina and back.
Very interesting, full experience you’ve given readers. A hot and cold scene, hot and cold characters, hot and cold story. The narrator comes across like the cold stone. Such delicate handling of this theme: the contrast between the two polarities.
And the rock and the geology, the heaviness, compression, longevity. The poem has these dense qualities, too.
BTW, a new member of my local Shut Up and Write Group is/worked all her career as a geologist. I just checked out her Substack. Beautiful rendering of the value of the earth, stories, essays, photos. She remains passionate about advocating for this big, verdant, watery planet we’re on. See earthtosusan.substack.com
Nice work, Eric!