I.
Nothing
impresses this tree
Although it listens most greedily
To
all the wind has to say —
It’s easy to
think
In its swerve and tremble
That it hasn’t heard
All
that before —
But it’s not
really new,
It’s just that creation
Requires
continual
Nourishment to make
Creation perpetual.
II.
In the forest of the
sticks,
Where shells litter the path,
The words swirl
endless,
Not yet caught by nettle,
Egret or snail —
Gray moss
hangs
Across the cactus,
White stars feather
Off the
branch.
III.
Bamboo holds below,
Where a green rug silts
The river,
Nevertheless it flows
From
under —
The shimmer
Of
January sun.
IV.
The seeds in nebular hulls
Set themselves free
Somehow —
But cattails are not
Inclined to share
Or play
within
Borders.
V.
Deep upriver
The ducks
hide,
Clucking under
Wasteland scrub —
The water comes
To
a stop,
A golden kind
Of beauty,
The illusory end —
A dead tree
A
foot beyond the shore.
VI.
The
sunset
Enhancement,
A few tall stalks
Still engorged
in sun —
The reeds
glow
Universal.
VII.
A brown field
Dotted
with white little trees,
A scene of winter
healing —
The urge to
grow
Barely dormant
Like it can create itself
At any
moment,
In any slot of sun
That grants it permission
To
deceive.
VIII.
So much
change with
Continuity,
The slowness of the gnats
As
they weave
Fresh geometries —
The gold of the
cones
Waiting for their moment,
Yellow leaves in position
To drop —
As if that sense of action
Gives the landscape meaning.
IX.
Pink roses,
white daisies
Are missing,
The sides of the hill
Are
umber, not green —
But still
bristling,
Still urgent,
Resisting the
poignancy
Of evening descending
Over the valley.
X.
The brown trees
That
grow in the bluffs
Turn red
Beneath the sun's wings —
The birch tree branches
Purple.
XI.
Miniature motor cars
Trailing dust
Hop like fleas
As the sun
falls
Behind the blue cloud —
Times are
crazy like these.
XII.
The ridgeline is white,
A
batwing cloud
Hangs black and pink above —
The
violet spreads east
Across the horizon,
The cloud now
plays
The part of a mountain —
The holes in the ground are for breathing.
