.......................Before climbing high enough

.............................to see her............ there is
.....................the limit of trees .....................black

................................shaggy shapes ....................scattered
...over the white dolomite

........................................................they are the oldest
...................................................................................and darkest

............................................growing

............nearly without company

..on the dry
....porous
and alkaline soil ...........they live
......................................................longest where

........................they are most lonely
................................................................and die leaving

...millennial snags........ that bleach
orange-tan ................................ground sharp

..............................and clean by the sand
.


--Avocet, 2007

..........................To the east now

....only the clouds
..are lit ......and the slopes
are black with shadow

.....................the thunderhead’s
.................................rust and flame
...dropping squalls of rain
.........................and sending shafts
..........................of dark lavender out over
.............................the desert into the heart
..............................of the Great Basin ...where
................night always
...falls first



these are
............the walkways
.................................that lead
.............into personal history
.................................that illuminate

....a child’s memory
of permanent west



--Avocet, 2007

Egairia


A dark blue
............wearing green skin
......................that is green
...................................ivory
......threading through sand ..........asleep
entering .......from murk..... the browns of ground
..........unperceived
..through the
..........deformations
..................subterranean
wearing water ........draped with ...skin
.......stippled ............................under
.....fish
.........spotted enveloped
....waving ...........sand changing eyes ...scattered
..........garments .....discarding ..sliding over .......ivory
seasonal adolescence
................................breast
....................green
............................................surrounded
.........surrounded

visiting .......night ......Numa

.........down

...................pool


.....................filtered
.........shouting into streams

................................we are here
......................we are

rushing away



--Transfer, 2004
--Residual Fragments

The Water Temple

Passing through gardens
in the glare of Roman marble
a haze of white light obscures the green
distance

concentric rings
of would-be fountain
are filled with blooming grass
of white-silver plant angels
surrounding
a statue of Egairia
that stands like Phidias’ Athena
in the place of the well

like liquid
a pale platform
of mattress
of shower
growing columns
and canopy
vines of sheets
around her

mounting
arms and legs
of cream
or baked meringue
lifting the roof of hair

the muscles
held
as if by a gyroscope
passing between
electromagnets



--Dream International Quarterly
--Residual Fragments

Afterimage

October
near the limit of trees
on the reflective
polished granite
skinned of soil
walking
blinking
by the resting meadow
a shooting violet
green stemmed twin
living delicately

Tying dreams
while choosing stones
for a garden
making a place to live
distracted
lying

the image
of a desire
vaporized
by the heat of summer
enveloped now
by the disintegrating
campfire

I hunt phosphenes
the sun downing quickly
like the wild azaleas re-closing
chilled
to the dusk
the fingers
of the palmate sun
trailing down my closed eyelid
going delicately
past the wilderness



--Avocet, 2000

The Panther Beds

Walking further
into the county’s wild
beyond the pavement
and the road

he climbed
out of the redwood forest
into the tanoak
and finally

on the edge
of the serpentine
below the ridge
of the chaparral
he saw
the panther’s cypress

The grove was thick
with young trees
and the soil well covered
with scaly leaves

Amid these
were the snags
of burnt elders
(just a few)
left to their rotting

The cones opening
in the heat
of the reproductive fire
that killed the forebears
left a carpet of seedlings
that now enriches the barrens
by the brush
and ledges
where the panthers breed



Avocet, 2000