Sardine Lake

The wind has a chill edge
I knot my hair and strip fearlessly
feeling nothing
the bog bouncing back up
in my footprints
like ripe dough
feet squishing sulphurous mud

It would have been easier
if it were deeper
or bottom lined with jagged rocks

Eventually I take the plunge
splash out and back
into the icy water
exhilaration comes later
call it survival

Management Fire

After decades of firefighting
to protect the Giant Sequoia
they discovered only fire
clears the brush so it can reproduce

Now they have management fires
scaring us late night tourists
with a wall of smoke
into a motel's lank embrace

Maybe I knew this already
desperately sparking my love for you
with a box of wet matches
in a forest of volatile strangers

Ahwahnee

Evening sun snags Half Dome
like the photographs on our playing cards
the waiter old enough to have served Ansel Adams
the same onion soup
to the sound of Scott Joplin's rag

Tuolumne Meadows

Pines rim the gold plain
I tasted the snow here once
Water clear as air

Nudist Beach

We watch the waves curl
turquoise beneath the sinking sun
standing our ground
as the undertow digs in our heels

The artist draws me from behind
golden, upright
until I tumble, shivering
you like the detail round my bum

I cling to your warm body
while the sun sets
right into the ocean
painting the rocks pink

Bluejay

Bluejay hiked in the long way
with his guitar and turquoise tent
with his bongo drums and small guitar
with a pot and rice and weed
without a lighter
he is happy as can be
to be here
happy that he made it
though the world is ending
and all will be one

Gorgeous Bluejay
playing naked in the stream

Sykes Hotspring

Warm water
Falling stars between the trees
I lie beneath the roots
rubbing your scalp
resting on my chest

We breathe together
the sulphurous air
a home of sorts

Lake Anza in September

Light whooshes across the pond
a wave of tiny fish
reorienting beneath the surface
where circles grow, intersect and vanish

Light shimmers
on the undersides of branches

Students on their day off
dive from the rocks
conversing deeply between land and water
far from the screaming toddlers on the beach

Once I saw a golden trout here
in the stream
today the bridge trembles
as my dog pants in the heat

I taste a sour blackberry
and swim

Night Train Lullaby

The night train plays its droll chant
through open windows
on this warm night
to the town's insomniacs
tossing in their beds
nee naa
whooo
you can sleep now
breathe
nee naa
whooo
toot toot

Cafe Trieste

When I was in love
the cafe was always full
of people, music
it was too crowded, too loud
now I wait for you
one of a lonely row
of women staring into space
and I don't care
my heart is free from longing

Treading Water

Sometimes even treading water
is motion of sorts
it keeps you from drowning

When the eye of the storm is near
and you are tossed hither and thither
torrents clutching at you like cold hands
tugging you down
salt tendrils invading your tender nostrils

Sometimes treading water
is motion even
with your head way above
the clear, warm, tropical calm
deep ocean

It keeps you from drowning

Burning Man Poem V

A thousand years from now
analysing the sad remains
of our benighted civilization
will they consider us the priests
burning these effigies annually in the desert
as we burn through every human hope
in the form of fossil fuel
replacing the dream of freedom
to roam the Earth
with the freedom to follow our friends
on facebook?

Surely if we can build all this
we could build something that lasts

Burning Man Poem IV

From out here
the city is a milky way
of colored lights

It is hard to tell
a shooting star
from fireworks
until
the faint thud
arrives
seconds later

Wind
hushing the raffia sunshades
commands reverence

The burning of the man
a barely noticeable detail

Burning Man Poem III

You are the apple girl
with rosy cheeks and red hair
with alabaster skin
I love the way you appreciate
my touch
your perfect pink nipples
without areolas
curled in my tongue

Burning Man Poem II

When I look in your eyes
there are tears
of remembrance
as though we are each
each other's lost loved one

Burning Man Poem I

I close my eyes and dream of dancing
a dozen rhythms pulsing through my body
my limbs stretch to unimaginable proportions
bending like branches
I flow up and down
wave in the ocean
dust clouds wavering on the breeze
electricity flies
between me and other people