East of California

Once again                                                                                       

   Pahn has made a mess                                                           

with water

He has left                                                                               

the drip emitters                                                           

    running                                                        

over the weekend                                 

I think he was in the gymnasium

with Djuturna

He may have touched her

He may have held her

with his arms

And when he went out

there was mud

The day was sunny

and open

The ground was bare

and freshly worked

Ahsileess came over

to clean up

but it was mostly

too wet

so they let the ground sit

to dry awhile

…

Pahn has come                                                                                                

to explore the desert                                                              

    in a camper                                                 

of dark blue     

    angled panels                                     

            with gaps                                        

for the cold

to enter

Outside                                                           

in the bright     

    he walks over his maps                                                    

from the coast                         

         past the bay                                         

over the wide slopes                                     

                      of the Range of Light

                   with its white

                                   smooth

                                   bedrock valleys                                               

                                             sharp straight

                   ridges

                      conifers

                               pale

                   aspens

                                      and clear

                   strands

                         in trickles and pools

running

through the cracks

                        and hollows

of the mountain’s

chest

and down the gravel Slopes                                                   

into the nippled desert                                                                                                              

with its sedimentary river                                                                                        

      crumbling towns                                                              

volcanic plugs                          

                       

Trying again                                                                                                     

to find those oasis niches                                                                             

   high in the ravines            

                 of pines

    or low in the canyons                                   

                 with cottonwoods

                springs

              ponds

             pools

Penelopeya comes by                                                                                

in the beginning                                                

         of the day                        

discouraging him                                               

from his search

speaking gently                                                

without voice

   of not finding                              

ones dreams                           

 and learning to accept                                     

                         lack

So he gives up                                                                                                 

on this barren sand                                        

  and determines                                                                                                       

to go back                                                                               

into the mountains                                                        

 the continental uplift                                        

          big enough to walk                        

beyond the borders of a single map

                                                         But realizing                                                 

he has left those pages                                            

at home           

  he goes in search                                              

of a ranger station             

    to buy a new map                

passing through old                                          

                   crumbling towns

re-inhabited     

    by new Mexicans        

patching the holes

in the buildings

with concrete

Pahn stops at a store                                                          

with his daughter

each looking                                                    

for a particular juice

Pahn knows what he wants                                               

and she knows what she wants                        

                         

Returning to the desert                                                                                                  

Pahn is in the family room                                                                             

with his son

playing trains                                                   

very soon                                                        

Pahn is bored                          

wanting to bring out                  

       the more sophisticated trains

that speak of time

and history

But Daphnis is young                                      

and wants only                         

           the easy                         

         uncomplicated

        round and soft

                             trains that speak

                                               of comfort and safety