manzanita’s red shadows
manzanita’s red shadows fall on me from the left, a sudden gash in the earth to the right, going, but is this really the way i came?
—- dry air and the tender shoots of winter grass fill this valley’s bowl a riot of quail surges from under the scrub my path lit now by venus and a quarter moon if only there were fires and woodcutter’s songs
—- i collected crushed granite for the cactus mix and bundles of branches for my jasmine’s fence, but whose garden is it that can match this dark night’s essence?
—- thinking of her and thinking of her again restless mind step after step the valley is wide, the valley is deep, dusk and the scent of sage swirls round my head the cool perfumed air rushes up from carrizo gorge, while a reassuring warmth radiates off the sand and boulders on close by south facing slopes. a few golden kites circle in the darkening blue above, and below my feet kit fox and mule deer’s tracks cross the sand. back in the city where the sea meets land, how many hearts remain holding shattered dreams? —-
