1: Highway 37
Across the mud flats we raced
on a road laid upon brackish waters,
a road too driven for safety and
comfort. Across the mud flats we went
among the zippy imports and the egrets.
2: Sand and Foam
I took my daughters by the hand
among the sandpipers and the kelp
and walked along the shoreline.
The seawash wet our pant legs.
The sun changed color and shape.
3: North Coast Sunset
Dispersed by a low-slung fog bank,
the sun goes down. The sea turns
a reflective, unsettled gray.
Two young girls sit shoulder
to shoulder on the still-wet shore.
It is most idyllic: the seals
on the rocks, the pelicans feeding.
4: Fire
Against that empty and colorless canvas,
the Bishop pines darken to silhouette.
Smoke drifts above our little fire.
I am quickened by your face in the firelight
and the black, black woods beyond.
5: Eel River Fever
The wind blew. The wind blew
and then it gusted. A fever came
upon me as if readied by the wind.
I did sleep a heady sleep
until Mars appeared that night.
6: Eel River Serenade
And I woke to various infirmities:
I was beleaguered with ache and pain—
but my spirit soon rose when
my daughter sang her songs to me.
7: Parkland Operetta
Through oak leaves and rubbery madrone
a cooling breeze swept the canyon.
Big trucks rattled on the highway.
A shapeless old man helped his son
to start a car. The river ran.
8: Aquatic Life
In the rookery sea lions barked and
seemed clumsy as we must have seemed
groping about on the kelp-slick rocks—
so many tidepool dramas we then found
at the edge of the jade-colored sea.
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