Restless,

These days are:

disappearing rapidly

falling down like old leaves

as i hurl myself 

(accidentally)

head thrown forward pushing against gravity

the most i hear 

(elderberry trees snipped back from the trail)

is the sound of an egg breaking 

(stick-crunch)

this tear-stained face i lift to the sky

swallowed, knee deep in dirt

swooned thickly, breast and heart swallowed, swallowed

wrapped by grey mist as she tucks her blanket in over the rocks, the earth

tucks her blanket in over me

(swollen eyes, still kissing trees)

earth loves water

water loves earth

(they say)

It's in the poison,
It's in the drugs.

It's in the clouds--expanding.

(obscurity, comfortable darkness of everything)

(i am standing, floating, anchored only by steam and sky-vapors)

yet a campfire flames just around the corner

past the fledgling maple trees and artemisia

(so young, so deceptively fragile)

past the trickling of water on rocks, past the poison oak

past the water trough the fire--

the fire burns

(undeterred by wetness and falling mist)

two children walk slowly up and down the steep curve of the mountain

they pretend they are skiing, they slip on the shale

and laugh

and laugh again.

(it's like throwing a teardrop into the flames)