Heronville

My favourite hunter,
My prehistoric alarm clock,
My clumsy flyer,
My fellow oak-sitter,

I know the colour
of your tongue
and how the world
turns flat again
when we are facing
each other

Once you were guiding me
through the wetlands in despair
it was you who brought me
home in the pouring rain,
you who showed me
the rocky quality of
one-leggedness,
you who taught me
to love this city,
this Heronville.

Courthouse Wash

Cactus needle
ground me

So here's your slickrock
around the non-clock
the grass says hop hop
and the worries stop
home is the body land
home is the red sand
to disappear into the dark
to reappear into the light
who, tell me who
is howling through the night
you keep on drinkin'
you keep on sinkin'
everything turns white

I am out of my mind
        into my soul
blissfully lost control
                       whole

I am the inner tracker
dream of a Swedish cracker
sleep under crypto cover
this soil is my lover

lizzard laughter
ever after
life is a magnet
a giant fragment
so here I'm standin'
no more demandin'
just receivin'
no more grievin'

cause when the heart explodes
and the beauty floats
complex decodes

wings sing spring

when the snakes no longer hide
it is your turn to decide
to slow it down
to slow it down
follow the compass
put on the north dress
taste the smell of sage and age
have a party in your cave
juniper bench joy
trust is right here boy

Bats dance
Dusk trance
Valley belly
Live magically

Hypothermia

When I see myself in you

When the fire is no longer blazing
for the sake of conversation
but for the body heat
of survival
I grab onto the lifeline
of the willow roots
like a critter in the vein
of the green womb
on its way to
upstream salvation
every rock which hits
a minor accident
where the primeval
journey might end

I can swim crawl howl
and look into the distance
and the future
projecting landing upon
landing on the white
shore of what was
paradise a decade
of growls ago
whipped battered
and bruised
my teeth sharpen
hands and feet
claws which
conquer the currents
and the inches
my mind fails
to appreciate

a woman dead
an animal alive
I arrive

Mud Maiden

To Edward Abbey 

In spirit
In canyon

covered
In mud
may crusty mineral
bottoms remain glued
to my fair pores
native sunscreen
to be seen
on the Green
the roar of the oar
meeting the flint print
of the mountain lion
there is mindfulness
or death
boredom or presence
pick your toe nails
with discipline
if you have to
undergo the pedicure
of the wild
dress your dinner with
pepper and sand
count your chances
of a harsh and poetic
end
dangling from
the divine slackline
where your name means
as much as
the proud cloud
emptying itself
virgin rain
making fun of
a grade A aridness
indulge in helplessness