I. 58Please respect copyright.PENANAxc9KP8RSny
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky58Please respect copyright.PENANAnM6gxIeiXB
the color of lapis. On this journey,58Please respect copyright.PENANA2iSCkUhCS7
anything seems possible,58Please respect copyright.PENANAQ23WJhhmss
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood58Please respect copyright.PENANAXcmoUJetrq
to kiss. The beauty trembles,58Please respect copyright.PENANAK3xK9Xgdx5
doesn't say a word, just watches58Please respect copyright.PENANA0zH419VmDD
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock58Please respect copyright.PENANADVhw6WMaLc
in the shady tree above us. What58Please respect copyright.PENANAXyz8BMyzCI
settles in her heart? What congeals?58Please respect copyright.PENANAuAIPeBfYKQ
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns58Please respect copyright.PENANAsaKw8b85tf
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn58Please respect copyright.PENANAbwNqbNIQAw
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal58Please respect copyright.PENANADEeMsYH3Fi
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?58Please respect copyright.PENANAYK0n1W7NeO
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 58Please respect copyright.PENANA8vmFbitgMY
She is just this side of wonderful,58Please respect copyright.PENANAY6EGuOMRdq
and suddenly the glamorous world58Please respect copyright.PENANAJWW7nj81fG
fills itself with shining and we laugh58Please respect copyright.PENANA3JAeu0ZCRh
at highway monuments that explain58Please respect copyright.PENANAvL9pGTJI3j
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans58Please respect copyright.PENANAlU5DsuUBid
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—58Please respect copyright.PENANAd4FsLuydRd
conversion is the devil's own58Please respect copyright.PENANASf5ZqTytPR
work! Then the stones of her dream58Please respect copyright.PENANAtINXSl8tqa
turn up under her feet, the back58Please respect copyright.PENANASuBc6H5SRr
of a huge land turtle. I know58Please respect copyright.PENANA3W0eio7u1h
we must be circling Paradise58Please respect copyright.PENANAAgzh9WovBA
because the ants enter the fleshy petals58Please respect copyright.PENANAAwa6YTcDj5
of the roadside flowers with evident58Please respect copyright.PENANAfhWXkgNzbB
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 58Please respect copyright.PENANA2jnJM8niar
Music, my adored. When is there never58Please respect copyright.PENANA2FMgaephHm
music? My accordion puffs up58Please respect copyright.PENANAf5MDizjtgE
with drinkable melodies. I spill58Please respect copyright.PENANAPpnuXSn3ex
her tunes into your listening ear,58Please respect copyright.PENANAr6hamZufQR
one after the other: the squeeze-box58Please respect copyright.PENANAKGsqWIXfRH
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy58Please respect copyright.PENANAB2CWbe8GoE
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-58Please respect copyright.PENANA7rMwOZrlwz
breaking labor song the worker croons58Please respect copyright.PENANAML3adQgxmr
to earth, warbles romantic notes of58Please respect copyright.PENANAcewlKLzdrX
dissolving borders. You melt58Please respect copyright.PENANA7xNi1iW6l8
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.58Please respect copyright.PENANADA34yUSy5Q
Music is happy and pitiless when58Please respect copyright.PENANAtbJmZAtd6j
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even58Please respect copyright.PENANAziu3aNWXE2
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 58Please respect copyright.PENANA0wdikP7XDN
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak58Please respect copyright.PENANAJ3tW0rnnB7
in a whisper.) We slip into this58Please respect copyright.PENANAVrToKmJ2Oh
space half cognizant. The land is very58Please respect copyright.PENANAD4Xod8lvgb
large indeed: bones of the earth58Please respect copyright.PENANAipuYbpPk3T
worn down, though she is a living thing.58Please respect copyright.PENANAEYsAr16bxi
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes58Please respect copyright.PENANA8yFtKs8m3m
graze on the far plain—their high,58Please respect copyright.PENANAuljNpjCWq7
white tails—the red soil throbs58Please respect copyright.PENANAProMQE10gV
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky58Please respect copyright.PENANAJ3jp9RZu2c
clears so smartly, perfectly, like58Please respect copyright.PENANAwx1xuGEEH2
radiance. Are the ancestors near?58Please respect copyright.PENANAfJBhb7n8Gu
What can we know? We decide58Please respect copyright.PENANA6yxymsaTAA
to wander around this prairie, mistaken58Please respect copyright.PENANAyhYz5g85nI
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.58Please respect copyright.PENANAPvYPA0AAto
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked58Please respect copyright.PENANAVawSneT1ND
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray58Please respect copyright.PENANAtESGtWnKco
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed58Please respect copyright.PENANAKQqcfv0HAE
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage58Please respect copyright.PENANAQBJhTdrv05
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.58Please respect copyright.PENANA61gQkoYNwF
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.58Please respect copyright.PENANAJcsTFLQMRN
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room58Please respect copyright.PENANAIb9hLDpssy
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see58Please respect copyright.PENANAhaJk8AIRgq
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean58Please respect copyright.PENANAViHYXHhqy4
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her58Please respect copyright.PENANArwOzRAIyvI
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more58Please respect copyright.PENANAKL6PzMtmgG
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But58Please respect copyright.PENANAtElzhdu7Yu
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 58Please respect copyright.PENANArCjKcZK7al
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,58Please respect copyright.PENANAgVLUGfMoUm
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.58Please respect copyright.PENANAKabkfJELu1
We look at each other, smile. For miles58Please respect copyright.PENANADb7O5ZkANp
we travel this way, nearly silent, point58Please respect copyright.PENANANWHXM4ZD6f
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-58Please respect copyright.PENANAd5Aveay1hQ
fisher on the snag above the swollen58Please respect copyright.PENANAyOMV7SulRC
creek. One night I weep in her arms58Please respect copyright.PENANAPtVxz9ONGr
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched58Please respect copyright.PENANA6rBI7c3pH2
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.58Please respect copyright.PENANAtZQRrt4CS3
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs58Please respect copyright.PENANAiSJCfoskyB
break from me as I think of my love58Please respect copyright.PENANAjU1skBntDo
back home, all that I have done58Please respect copyright.PENANALanIwiSnBv
and cannot say. This is the first time58Please respect copyright.PENANA7cP7MJzLQm
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
58Please respect copyright.PENANA3f5DNG14oG