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