I. 5Please respect copyright.PENANAiHVOwmxxJX
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky5Please respect copyright.PENANAZfz0mo48uu
the color of lapis. On this journey,5Please respect copyright.PENANAiawHNfCk2k
anything seems possible,5Please respect copyright.PENANAh5Q0YzU3C0
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood5Please respect copyright.PENANACIMP7vTdXm
to kiss. The beauty trembles,5Please respect copyright.PENANAca6GQwtE4P
doesn't say a word, just watches5Please respect copyright.PENANA5Md6QEozKj
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock5Please respect copyright.PENANAcfrDBID6Pw
in the shady tree above us. What5Please respect copyright.PENANACb9KDwTJ5p
settles in her heart? What congeals?5Please respect copyright.PENANAErLtuLHmLv
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns5Please respect copyright.PENANAxdUDbykorR
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn5Please respect copyright.PENANAWrs95WhbOr
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal5Please respect copyright.PENANAR2X9KhrrOj
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?5Please respect copyright.PENANAaR47ZzDQsj
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 5Please respect copyright.PENANAcJB0opo34y
She is just this side of wonderful,5Please respect copyright.PENANA9Wl1WcTwLj
and suddenly the glamorous world5Please respect copyright.PENANA4CPrF5vHpw
fills itself with shining and we laugh5Please respect copyright.PENANAbIb3HB6cnP
at highway monuments that explain5Please respect copyright.PENANAayPtEcmwlm
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans5Please respect copyright.PENANAzKP8hP0BZT
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—5Please respect copyright.PENANAyjWUPM1Hpm
conversion is the devil's own5Please respect copyright.PENANAr9MiR2miXN
work! Then the stones of her dream5Please respect copyright.PENANAGI3yqf7zYc
turn up under her feet, the back5Please respect copyright.PENANA9b84UdBPtK
of a huge land turtle. I know5Please respect copyright.PENANAKbThUTlB6i
we must be circling Paradise5Please respect copyright.PENANAbyiucQe4oF
because the ants enter the fleshy petals5Please respect copyright.PENANAjo54xHPkio
of the roadside flowers with evident5Please respect copyright.PENANAval9VTSk38
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 5Please respect copyright.PENANA0ySaTEmJdg
Music, my adored. When is there never5Please respect copyright.PENANAu1DkFplOTy
music? My accordion puffs up5Please respect copyright.PENANARJKoTU8yyh
with drinkable melodies. I spill5Please respect copyright.PENANAxyhJdam7gI
her tunes into your listening ear,5Please respect copyright.PENANAnA9080sjck
one after the other: the squeeze-box5Please respect copyright.PENANAkT5D1MbNRy
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy5Please respect copyright.PENANAVZf0fvYUJx
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-5Please respect copyright.PENANAt8gPBGka9Z
breaking labor song the worker croons5Please respect copyright.PENANAHw2hBlNa3X
to earth, warbles romantic notes of5Please respect copyright.PENANAlgpsJxlYAx
dissolving borders. You melt5Please respect copyright.PENANACTU8gVS5xF
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.5Please respect copyright.PENANAV4hjsXmd19
Music is happy and pitiless when5Please respect copyright.PENANACB0TA0LWFo
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even5Please respect copyright.PENANA6GIqtyEG3B
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 5Please respect copyright.PENANAQpoC5pyhZt
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak5Please respect copyright.PENANAffJrNab6YG
in a whisper.) We slip into this5Please respect copyright.PENANARhrlIb0q2k
space half cognizant. The land is very5Please respect copyright.PENANA3jfVYsEgNv
large indeed: bones of the earth5Please respect copyright.PENANAJ3mxBG8osR
worn down, though she is a living thing.5Please respect copyright.PENANAKFBft18rGe
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes5Please respect copyright.PENANAMQgo8ye7qz
graze on the far plain—their high,5Please respect copyright.PENANAV6UJkfesF4
white tails—the red soil throbs5Please respect copyright.PENANA3ObXCWkbfL
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky5Please respect copyright.PENANAtw0ft4HpIt
clears so smartly, perfectly, like5Please respect copyright.PENANAetXijH5AkJ
radiance. Are the ancestors near?5Please respect copyright.PENANAey9Wr2oWtm
What can we know? We decide5Please respect copyright.PENANA1LuCzFdIJN
to wander around this prairie, mistaken5Please respect copyright.PENANApef0ITEBRt
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.5Please respect copyright.PENANAZPAOjtdNVc
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked5Please respect copyright.PENANALGAQKf3r90
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray5Please respect copyright.PENANAQ5eBzP2kXO
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed5Please respect copyright.PENANAvdV9yZw4at
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage5Please respect copyright.PENANA2vx5viIYi2
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.5Please respect copyright.PENANAmQMFsr2zGm
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.5Please respect copyright.PENANASRqNrxkWgJ
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room5Please respect copyright.PENANAbfXu0R3lkw
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see5Please respect copyright.PENANAvczGz6iwim
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean5Please respect copyright.PENANAONHvh1D1DR
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her5Please respect copyright.PENANAFoiPPG43PZ
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more5Please respect copyright.PENANAEu3fx9i7JO
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But5Please respect copyright.PENANAtdMAl5Zy0b
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 5Please respect copyright.PENANA0VzeyXeEng
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,5Please respect copyright.PENANAoXKlY6ZhF5
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.5Please respect copyright.PENANAmyTyoiz1xr
We look at each other, smile. For miles5Please respect copyright.PENANA1AgoaExBSZ
we travel this way, nearly silent, point5Please respect copyright.PENANAGesd76Fr3E
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-5Please respect copyright.PENANAis8qeoKwFb
fisher on the snag above the swollen5Please respect copyright.PENANAdRzWCoIyMb
creek. One night I weep in her arms5Please respect copyright.PENANAjjG3Qg0XY4
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched5Please respect copyright.PENANAyWXybb3hhc
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.5Please respect copyright.PENANAA4FXejlMPZ
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs5Please respect copyright.PENANA0R1RkyHigA
break from me as I think of my love5Please respect copyright.PENANAHyC2si9r38
back home, all that I have done5Please respect copyright.PENANA7bbMxxiMAq
and cannot say. This is the first time5Please respect copyright.PENANA9ks6nkosVC
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
5Please respect copyright.PENANAvJ3Qo2iRoR