The Levels of Intimacy

.

Sitting at a table in a playground
with Egairia drawing
Pahn is speaking over her mirth of
the four levels of intimacy
which
in her are visible like stairs of chalk figures
on a flat surface that Pahn can scan
but not hold or incorporate

He tells her
there is another woman (Athehna)
who shares her name and with whom
he has reached the second level

he sees Athehna
In his mind distorted
nearby

her thin gray hair
curls around her ears
and she is looking away
closed now
and unhappy

Egairia laughs
And looks at his eyes
rising
and going
to her distant work

................................................He tries hard to remember what she said

......................................................................................He knows
.....................................................................................he can’t
.........................................................................................open her head now

.
…

He is on a bridge
....................................................suspended
...................................................high
...................................................above
a wide ........deep river ....of Oregon

working
laying olives and salsa
on each tread

pulses of fear
..................................................vertigo
coming into his body of falling
from this conscious
span where love
may walk
and the limbs are industrious

He is afraid of losing them
because he needs their presences

…

Walking naked

through a rainy night
out of the forest
by the river
past a shelter for travelers
to a road built on a shelf between
the stages of a waterfall

........................................................He has been alone in the water already
....................................................... and is frightened
......................................................... of it

............................................................ When he was young
for a time
............................................................ he wouldn’t let anyone
see his goatish skin

........................................................... he didn’t want
.......................................................... to be touched

............................................................ and he became afraid of people
but all the while he had fantasies
............................................................ of being nude among mortal women

Looking down
there is another fall
but climbing to it he sees
that the great river of Oregon
has dried and shrunken into a semi-rural yard
oak and eucalyptus of a young California

…

In another moment
in the presence of worker friends

the stream has overwhelmed
a bridge

A car is navigating
the flooded deck pushing wakes
along the gutters

Pahn is doubtful momentarily
but finds he has seen the sidewalk into dryness
and crosses with swiftly appearing
....................................................companions

And now coming the other way
Junipera alone passes
...................................................without looking

…

The stream dries again
disappointed
....................................................faster than water can flow

Here
....................Pahn notes
that the government has taken a bit of private
land and built
a walkway to an observation point
where people can watch at a safe distance
.................................................................................the torrents
in the wet season
....................................................when it comes

…

Sitting at a table
in a playground
with Egairia drawing
speaking
over her mirth
of the four levels
of intimacy
which
in her


are visible
like stairs
of chalk figures
on a flat surface
that he can scan
but not hold
or merge with

.....................................................he is trying
.....................................................hard to remember
what she is saying
......................................................but it has evaporated

he tells her
there is another woman (Athehna)
who shares one of her names
with whom
he has reached
the second level

he sees her
in his mind
nearby

with her thin gray hair
that curls around her ears
and she is looking away
closed now
....................................................and unhappy

Egairia laughs
and looks at his eyes
rising
....................................................and going

...........to her distant work

.

.