Hermitage

Panning

the length

of the canyon

a version                      

of teenage        

exploration

rolling pavement

dry must

seeping creek

down from Priest Rock

Nomioss                                  

walking back                           

informs Pahn                

of the hermitage

above

up a rocky path

into the re-growth

of chaparral

past the ore tailings

Climbing a crude stair

through

abandoned stamp mill

chute

arriving

at Sunday school 

Kindergarten               

museum                       

crafts

tables

          kind             safe    quiet     gay priests

     giving instruction                    

     in glue and paper              

Pahn’s children

reasonably contented

already comfortable

in the environment

of their people

then coming away

with their father

    to the artifacts

 of explorers

and obscured ethnicities                     

their baskets

pestles

Pahn leaves      alone

with a spear

souvenir

meaningful

at first

but soon unneeded

He descends the trail

through

the laurel               

into the canyon                        

The House of Egairia

.

He thought it was a spring.... a fountain in a Roman pond
..........an origin of water.... a king's source of advice—
but it was an old dark house in Oregon...................


…Pahn is cruising
the roughening road
followed
.............by men from work
........on a treasure hunt
to a high basin
............of mixed geology

...........................................................................Losing them
Pahn waits

Hendrik arrives
........................and Pahn shows him
.......................................the direction to travel
Pahn waits

Returning .........Hendrik carries
.........................................a sheaf
................................................................................of lemongrass

Pahn is unsure ....thinking
.................................................................Hendrik may have taken
..............................................................the wrong item

Pahn goes in the direction
to travel for verification

He stops outside a house and
.............................................................holds out the lemongrass
and someone
suggests
........................................that he ask Egairia
..............................................................................(who is inside)
..........................................................................if it is the true and correct treasure

Pahn is surprised
and shy
but enters the house ........................................................................


to find her .....standing with
a young boy
.........................of Aiks’ family
....................................................sharing her looks

Pahn holds Egairia

She doesn’t raise
.......................her arms ....but leans in to
.......................................him who doubts her love
....................................................but holds to his affection

She leads him
....................................................to her car

As they drive.........................................................
through the high northern town
wondering
..................................................about the source of its prosperity
Pahn is thinking
of Eendekoi
..................................that he might be living
...............................................in the house they have just left

Egairia drives fast facing......................................
backward .........weaving...
................................into oncoming traffic and she asks
Pahn
..............................to be her eyes

He cannot tell........................................................
if she is sick
..............or tired
...........or sad

as he runs
through the possible explanations for her behavior
..........................................................cancer
................................................................overwork
.................................................................loneliness
........................................................................temperament
...............................................................insomnia
...........................................................................a wasting illness
.................................................................pregnancy


Reaching her house.................
Pahn finds
......................................an older man working in the driveway
Pahn thinks
.......................................it must be her father
....................................but it is not

A young man...........................
walks out of the house
Pahn thinks
........................................it is her husband
.......................................but it is not

An older woman is inside
.....................................She is not her mother

Pahn imagines
.......................................they are all her friends helping
.........................with the house

Inside..........................................
he sits at the dining table
old
............and square in the faded
.........................rust-colored room
............................................................... with blackout curtains

Pahn gets up again and parts ..................................
the shades.........................................
...................to see if there is a view.......and finds
...............................................................................that the sun
...................is in the wrong place
...............for the direction he thought he was looking

He makes a sign of..........................
perplexity.........
................................and when they ask
..............................what’s wrong
he says

“I am disoriented”

The older woman remarks

“That’s how it is when
you are married”

Laughter

he wonders
...........if they are
..................................still married living
......................................................................................so far
............................................................................away
from each
....................................................other

Triptych

Naked form

in early

middle-age

etched

brushing

receptors

water and air

filled skin

over the soil

of sleep

in the layered 

cove

of cotton

                               the nearsighted               Sometimes

                                      night                       the images

                                     resting                  from sleeping

                                     horizontal                             stay  

                                                                             in front of        
Raising his torso              Pahn sees                his open eyes   

and turning                      columns                hallucinations   

toward her                      hovering                                       

  he sees                       over the breast          but when gone    

  three thin                    spirals of Aiks                 are seldom    

  as even as                                                      remembered    

  Slinkys                             spiraling                             again    

of smoke                    in even ringlets                                  

  rising                            several feet                             lost    

  from her chest             into the room              in the mind's    

                                                                          network

  She awakens                 He is startled                     perhaps     

  briefly                         by the lifelike          happened upon    

asking                                sense                           someday  

"What's                         of wellbeing                  by accident  

wrong?"                                                                        in a  

                                     in whole                  conversation

"Nothing"                       and sleeping                 with a lover  

   he murmurs                     feminine                                          

"All is good"                     breathing                                       

An Elemental

.

In the beer-garden
on her way back to
South Africa
Eealohna
sits talking over the bleached
wooden deck
rising
and dissolving
into stream-gravel

Pahn’s arms
extend
a wooden frame
to catch and hold
her falling
alluvium
He
carries her to
the table
where
he lets loose her pebbles
to scatter

Going back
to the bleached bench
Gendenwitha
appears
in her place…

…as the professor
leads the class
in a tour of the campus
they laugh
and cavort

admitting
their joy in each other

and when it is time
to sleep
they lie together

…

During the night
he holds her like a child

At some point
she sits up
afraid

and he protects her
from his doubts
in the curve
made
by his stomach
and his thighs
leaning up
to hold her

…

In accepting sleep
and startling from it
she has been taken
again
to the firmament

and Eealohna
is again
in the pool rack

triangular now

Then lifting her stones
pointing at the sky
the tip narrows
with awakening

and he reaches
down
to her
there
where she has become

the delta

.

.

Ehvair

.

Green field of thread .............
curved...........mottled..........desire
adept
stitching thought.........unraveling confusion............the persistent
overcast
dampens
garment clings..............wet.....mounds
abide
fluster
hold into the lost
settle drizzle among blades.....pressing..........absorbing
the water of the forgotten.....still on the lips...the cloak
of boundary....holding him only.........Kukaline..........to you

we...........

....................................are unconsummated

................safe....wise....apart

.

.

The Beginnings of Frost

In the start

of the voluptuous cumulus

moonrise

as if chemically

enhanced

with silver

or gelatin

recollection fires

in clusters

from family outings

in the transitional

seasons

of dry

cold

outcroppings

on the steep shoulders

of the Temblor Range

over the alternating

slopes

of chamise

and crippled oak

of still air

after weak storms

before the fog forms

in coastal

valley towns

how temperature

and moisture

alter scents

of smoke

decomposition

and clothing

…

Driving the lights

into the fields

of the university

showing the taste

of a brief shower

a few degrees

above freezing

there is an instant

of glow

over the inland mountain

from distant lightning

then the brisk walk

through feminine

night-youth

to the class

and here

sitting by

the crescent moons

faintly reflecting

the girls

of his childhood

in their remnants

of Mexico

the Philippines

Portugal

and Ireland

with their hip

adaptations

Creole

opens her cupid’s

lips

to speak

of works

and strategies

while

the nonverbal

minds

find nests

of honey

to reach into

having learned

the ways of bees

and how

they let you

take their waxy combs

without stinging

if only you don’t betray

your fear

…

Asleep

holding the waist

of love

and care

sympathy

and concern

bodily

acceptance

freely given

lust

has become

irrelevant

…

At work

rolling down

the window

a calm

blue woman (Ehvair)

calls to him

and finding her later

to talk

her eyes

are so large

he could fall into them

…

Asleep again

now she is Demeter

merged

in a synthesis of loves

 midnight

surrounded

   by the color

of full moon dusk

after the sunset

has completely gone

She starts to walk away from him

and he interrogates her

trying his best

to ascertain

      the problem

And she turns back

to him

        and shows him

             the buttons on her shirt

         over her left breast

                  where she has cut away

                     the extra fabric

             that had held it

He is worried now

a concern

as dark

as she

that the season

could take

      such a thing

and leave

               only black lesions

like the leaf scars

on the branches

after the sunset flesh

has dried

           and been carried

away to the ground

…

Rising from his limbs

                   and torso

held down

by the reindeer quilt

He tells Aiks

it is snowing

and goes

to wake his children

He tells them

of the history

of weather

and how

they are witnesses to it

because

it seldom snows

here

by the low coast

with its damp

            marine air…

…But when he wakes

the sky is clear

and the lawns

are white

with frost

Sleep Echo

.

from
under the heavy
blankets
Pahn follows Aiks

into the square
closet
where
she touches
his shirts

He rises
along her tall
thin torso
to her chin

acquiring
her mouth
in a moment

surrounding
her cheeks
with comfort
he asks

“Will you
not love
the conquering
hero”

She leans back
against his clothes
to take him in

his hand
nuzzling
her puffy mons

…

On the edge
of bedding
and the edge
of sleep

she lies
before him
her legs
against his sides

She holds him
in her attachment

opens
in her embrace

turns over
in her trust

pulling him in

for sequestered

incubation

.

.