I. 56Please respect copyright.PENANAP9RyavtdHB
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky56Please respect copyright.PENANANvd4REPv0e
the color of lapis. On this journey,56Please respect copyright.PENANAag5qerfzS2
anything seems possible,56Please respect copyright.PENANAntepoM4vpx
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood56Please respect copyright.PENANA2DoID74yTw
to kiss. The beauty trembles,56Please respect copyright.PENANAodoNzKCKj0
doesn't say a word, just watches56Please respect copyright.PENANAcfyNBqzl8o
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock56Please respect copyright.PENANArVDXKssCWL
in the shady tree above us. What56Please respect copyright.PENANAxLYaPndMrZ
settles in her heart? What congeals?56Please respect copyright.PENANArcTCDOUAsd
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns56Please respect copyright.PENANAuU0JZz58gk
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn56Please respect copyright.PENANAXvOfelc24t
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal56Please respect copyright.PENANAfftxk1IS2v
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?56Please respect copyright.PENANALRpxizIJbB
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 56Please respect copyright.PENANA35sxxkG3yk
She is just this side of wonderful,56Please respect copyright.PENANAzOlhwzPIA5
and suddenly the glamorous world56Please respect copyright.PENANAbROcGsVf4s
fills itself with shining and we laugh56Please respect copyright.PENANAGRchPOeQwp
at highway monuments that explain56Please respect copyright.PENANA31s40WcdDx
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans56Please respect copyright.PENANAkWntu6YztY
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—56Please respect copyright.PENANAb9VlBUeqeB
conversion is the devil's own56Please respect copyright.PENANAzWiZIpKxq2
work! Then the stones of her dream56Please respect copyright.PENANAMb5y39hrOv
turn up under her feet, the back56Please respect copyright.PENANAgXXQk0AOo8
of a huge land turtle. I know56Please respect copyright.PENANAEsGPKEUDBo
we must be circling Paradise56Please respect copyright.PENANAJJgG4m2XxS
because the ants enter the fleshy petals56Please respect copyright.PENANAXF25xge5cZ
of the roadside flowers with evident56Please respect copyright.PENANAtARK4fae8X
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 56Please respect copyright.PENANAgjMExtkFlS
Music, my adored. When is there never56Please respect copyright.PENANAHCYsvjjYt9
music? My accordion puffs up56Please respect copyright.PENANAlfWruz5Qh6
with drinkable melodies. I spill56Please respect copyright.PENANAdWqbh9b8Ys
her tunes into your listening ear,56Please respect copyright.PENANAoZRsyBzayu
one after the other: the squeeze-box56Please respect copyright.PENANAp6XOE2m8P1
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy56Please respect copyright.PENANAv6dGiNK8nu
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-56Please respect copyright.PENANACeEIo7wtHc
breaking labor song the worker croons56Please respect copyright.PENANA1iLD84weZ8
to earth, warbles romantic notes of56Please respect copyright.PENANAn7w7443TQo
dissolving borders. You melt56Please respect copyright.PENANAdtiakeLb0z
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.56Please respect copyright.PENANAlpFgiyTO7e
Music is happy and pitiless when56Please respect copyright.PENANAZzChjBLtCl
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even56Please respect copyright.PENANAU5Fbukq2P5
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 56Please respect copyright.PENANAXxbpt7y5GG
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak56Please respect copyright.PENANAZ9H80kkR05
in a whisper.) We slip into this56Please respect copyright.PENANAOIgyQpY0Gb
space half cognizant. The land is very56Please respect copyright.PENANAePKlxFS3Ho
large indeed: bones of the earth56Please respect copyright.PENANA4hXyAToKuG
worn down, though she is a living thing.56Please respect copyright.PENANAzQpjTATC77
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes56Please respect copyright.PENANAu3ECpCE97W
graze on the far plain—their high,56Please respect copyright.PENANAQ7Tk1PJpOh
white tails—the red soil throbs56Please respect copyright.PENANAjfWbK9hMwH
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky56Please respect copyright.PENANA5Cxc0RWrAp
clears so smartly, perfectly, like56Please respect copyright.PENANAZQTTFkiRlV
radiance. Are the ancestors near?56Please respect copyright.PENANAMdoRMtXBNh
What can we know? We decide56Please respect copyright.PENANArDxkEiMutP
to wander around this prairie, mistaken56Please respect copyright.PENANAHmcrZ3aMZ1
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.56Please respect copyright.PENANAoDnAHCOFLy
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked56Please respect copyright.PENANADbey4OSWbr
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray56Please respect copyright.PENANALYHupu0kBj
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed56Please respect copyright.PENANATppybdeiY1
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage56Please respect copyright.PENANAJMe9wqyRU8
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.56Please respect copyright.PENANAVxCwzvrQuS
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.56Please respect copyright.PENANAgwxYVlTOZC
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room56Please respect copyright.PENANA1qVaheRJ4J
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see56Please respect copyright.PENANA01OhnWfHjg
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean56Please respect copyright.PENANAVCWq2Z8ibT
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her56Please respect copyright.PENANAcbauiMMelQ
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more56Please respect copyright.PENANAqsAkZALVJL
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But56Please respect copyright.PENANAdh20hP6sJx
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 56Please respect copyright.PENANAUXmdcMVcZv
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,56Please respect copyright.PENANAJdcMe8H2UE
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.56Please respect copyright.PENANAFw43egN6Og
We look at each other, smile. For miles56Please respect copyright.PENANAVXRJZRrhV3
we travel this way, nearly silent, point56Please respect copyright.PENANAqERJ6GusrJ
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-56Please respect copyright.PENANAuc71SJ7rPa
fisher on the snag above the swollen56Please respect copyright.PENANA7wXf2u9pOc
creek. One night I weep in her arms56Please respect copyright.PENANAbIF0ftl1YM
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched56Please respect copyright.PENANA7DfRf82Hox
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.56Please respect copyright.PENANAnrSpiGscUo
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs56Please respect copyright.PENANAOyhfFIIizu
break from me as I think of my love56Please respect copyright.PENANAgYNII3Yv2P
back home, all that I have done56Please respect copyright.PENANA16uFpTNj0A
and cannot say. This is the first time56Please respect copyright.PENANA2tny5aMHn4
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
56Please respect copyright.PENANAZWUSyTifvi