The Third Time

.

It is hard to remember now
but he came
three times
out of a house
with rafters

and three times
he walked down
a gravel road

The first time
I don’t remember
but it wasn’t right

The second time
I remember only
that Junipera was there
and ignoring him

The third time
Junipera followed him
into a house
and Pahn sat
perched on the edge
of a bathtub
drawing the curtain
behind him wondering
if she would come in
to him

And when he turned around
she was smiling
and when he looked down
they were floating
in a soft matrix
of dots
fluff
and plasma
her
hands on his knees
pushing onto him
…

Out on that same road
there is a man
with a head like an idea
and a rectangular body
of glass
with contentment
and orgasm
bubbling inside
a thick
clear
liquid
like oil
or conditioner

And Pahn is bent
grandly over maps
of the Sierra foothills
with pine smoke
seeing this idea-
headed man on the paper
in ink
with lines
leading into him
like roads
to a town
.

asking who it could be
and knowing suddenly

it is Tuolumne

.

.