unburnt bush II

unburnt bush II

faltering and giving out, the trail downwanders 

to an unknown ledge

beneath an overhang with a cavernous slit

an opening long and narrow and deep

lips covered in black feathers.

not deathsign vulture feathers but crow's

the old and new fears of the dark feminine rise but

the delight of being explored and revered

moves me farther down the opening

i do not enter but far above 

in the rock a pair of pussywillows sprout

newleaf green and pollen yellow like antlers

My love is an unnamed stream

my love is an unnamed stream

not "like a stream" but the creek 

that runs brown and fast and sandy 

to the mud lake, and then 

over the beaver dam, and then

on past so many deadfalls

it becomes time to haul out

the little plastic shell that keeps 

me from immersing myself in you

my love is an unnamed stream

running fast and wild, but even then

only dangerous to a weightless child

with water in her waders.

my love slides over and under gar and snappers,

fish and fishlets and the teeming microfish.

an invisible world of insect larvae setting up sand

       and stone houses

and on the shore, deer families

that sound like something coming to eat me.

Sun Devils January 2014