I. 6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIg1dm8bQXd
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVdq4q00DP
the color of lapis. On this journey,6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzQw0LvqvH
anything seems possible,6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKzHwiYDgY
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCxyqAlhLv
to kiss. The beauty trembles,6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2q3dZP5cJ
doesn't say a word, just watches6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVGGgq6Las
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTQMVl0ZOZ
in the shady tree above us. What6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwThU4XWsG
settles in her heart? What congeals?6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8eY8UIltUR
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaABWpu8fiE
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMmIxgAnBG
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKG6mpemtZo
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbkKK8MICl
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmVjWMrhyZ
She is just this side of wonderful,6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDaIyoDpDk
and suddenly the glamorous world6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXmSqgu41t
fills itself with shining and we laugh6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMXfX1Uq3k
at highway monuments that explain6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GA3qf12FG
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoxSB8Evf5
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYPQeh6mdn
conversion is the devil's own6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ttM5Tlp62
work! Then the stones of her dream6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrb6ykiLNlj
turn up under her feet, the back6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlwko9mQDg
of a huge land turtle. I know6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuV4Olg2iB
we must be circling Paradise6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kTDQlSxaq
because the ants enter the fleshy petals6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjL2rj0ieIx
of the roadside flowers with evident6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPmunIc0ee
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0yRtI1P2c
Music, my adored. When is there never6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJb8Ck71EV
music? My accordion puffs up6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojLsV9uGSc
with drinkable melodies. I spill6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMBbuRpx1n
her tunes into your listening ear,6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGjSaeRxWh
one after the other: the squeeze-box6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqvFPZWeK4
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9g6sUu8q3M
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYwurO7dga
breaking labor song the worker croons6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDCIqw3rIT
to earth, warbles romantic notes of6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtPMkIwyUj
dissolving borders. You melt6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3lQi7TXzF
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYJzRTYuX3
Music is happy and pitiless when6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlNsqCtUg2
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuhvigCj87
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuZmFXeZJt
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAU3IQRLUT
in a whisper.) We slip into this6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuxtFvMoLK
space half cognizant. The land is very6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHiNQC0fbN
large indeed: bones of the earth6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtepvfkQvA6
worn down, though she is a living thing.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNJrhwflrF
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVnUziu4IO
graze on the far plain—their high,6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPCyKVBPEr
white tails—the red soil throbs6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvr9AhkfMwS
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaQPIgk2E5
clears so smartly, perfectly, like6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5HjWJuWwm
radiance. Are the ancestors near?6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhbFx7X7UV
What can we know? We decide6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5xCWljjir
to wander around this prairie, mistaken6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXf5RiDEfuP
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcvjfucH2q
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLZNIk6koa
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayq8njcVPi
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlKQ23TfnC
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6n56zUTK2
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMO0BspTTUq
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LLIvddr6c
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnKAlABgXH
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsRDl5owh3
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0MRhd0eM6
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxFV3nCO66
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFMEn2Zj0K
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ePpdc6AbR
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPRfpDIC2p
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvCGBGlLpc
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjnSLSsYz5
We look at each other, smile. For miles6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8x5JTynS5
we travel this way, nearly silent, point6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb97zKhaq8h
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpST8fzQ1K
fisher on the snag above the swollen6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5zSgjeBJF
creek. One night I weep in her arms6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTc9quB9lxX
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKSBjIhEwF
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDstxbWdCTf
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaR0ozb9bSr
break from me as I think of my love6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHAWxukaDt
back home, all that I have done6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoSYLSi97u
and cannot say. This is the first time6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbxZJZGGr2
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNC3yyHy9SW
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