The San Andreas

.

A map-
makers obsession with topography
                      Ahgreyeuss and Nomioss follow
upward vaguely
seeking by boulders
       wet    and reservoir

They walk quietly on
flat paths thinking of other places—

                                                 any over-steepened slope
                                                                               will slide
 
—under leaves
to the in-flowing
arms end
                                         commencement hollow

They enter
wait here in jumble
and shady with relief and variation


                                                 There is a land so steep

                                                              were it any steeper
                                               it could not be

They excite
in the convoluted landscape
                                      fault buckled
                                      bole strewn
in their vision
                                       clear resolution
                                                      precarious in depth
                                                     with wholesome passion

they stare

at not being

With Nomioss his Brother

…Ahgreyeuss walks
from the woods
further back into youth

with Nomioss
They tread long grass
and water all around
streams
clear and overflowing with green
and the sky

By the novitiate
with its stop-gates
                            diversions
                           races
they walk rising land

They come to culverts
where Nomioss turns back
but Ahgreyeuss
                           the younger boy            continues

climbing the awe of washout
                        vertical
over the ruinous concrete      
                                     to the gentle slopes
                                      near the top of the ridge 
                                   where the water

                                                             flows uphill

The First Flood

Ahgreyeuss descends
as the sky darkens
hungering rain
                           a great autumn
to nest in

It is still
in anticipation
                            of the winter deluge
when the gravel shifts
the leaves fall
and the seeds shower…

…at the bottom of the canyon
following the creek that rises
out to
                           and quenching
the reservoir

He comes to fishermen
                             on black promontories
catching huge silver
                                          trout
and he runs home
to tell his brother
                                       of the flood

Becoming Pahn

.…on the road
with Nomioss
Ahgreyeuss is exploring the dry
and golden buckeye woodland

warm and dusty

They stop at a monument
and climb a loose path of
decomposed granite
                                           stone steps to
                                            a commemorative obelisk

a ruin
looking out over the
hills of fading green
                                        and oak

into a violent distance

Remembering
                                          the past war
they see tanks maneuvering
across a riddled plain

              missiles
              explode into the peaty valley floor
and Ahgreyeuss shudders at the prospect            
of crossing into that scene              
but his brother reassures him
                                                     turning him away
saying

“It is not for us”

Ahgreyeuss leaves his brother
                                                     walks west down the ridge
alone among stairways
                             olive and gray stone

He finds and greets
a ranger
                    guide green
                           who brings him to the temple columns

and leads him
                         inside
through a door like a tunnel

And here in the dim church
                          with shafts of light
                          illuminating dust
grand pianos are arranged
                               like pews
closed and soundless
The rangers               
                                      wearing black robes
performing rites                like a marriage
or sacrifice
intimidating                     serious
possessing and regulating
access to their realm
they allow the young man                                      to approach the altar

But as he approaches the end
of the aisle
he sees to his left
                                       a way out
and goes to it like water
that finds its way through a constriction

Now he
                                        is in a pale hall
like the back of an old house
                                                      used as an office
and there are two doors to consider

Behind the white one
is a universe
                         of old furniture
             utensils
                          unused pianos
                                     windows
              but no way out
and a floor
too cluttered to walk

Behind the pale green door
there is a bedroom
           with a woman lying in
                    black sheets
                         a nightgown
staring
              light
the gentle curves of her body
                                                         showing
                      through the thin
                                 and soft
                                  films of cloth

Ahgreyeuss is looking

for the end of the building
                                             a door
around the white walls                                     
                                            and bedding
and slips into the sheets
with her

Then

as he turns to hold her
                              the land begins to shake
and the walls to fall away
                                        noisily
allowing the sunlight
to fill the air

revealing                                                     
the open landscape again
with no roads
or trails

And into the wilderness
becoming
Pahn

through
                                         stony pastures

Ahgreyeuss sets out

.

.

Reconstruction

.…through broken
columns
marble
white
geometric
ruins in a coastal sunlight                   
and Mediterranean     
sky      Ahgreyeuss walks    
past women    in pairs   
into current
life       and courtyard      a dark
thin woman       and a blond
fleshy woman      of forty
years or more        They are walking
                                                 the sharp edge
of history           Pahn’s mind
                                                 is empty       He turns
and tears restraint                                                            
knocking the women
                                                             unconscious
dragging
desire to the water                                                                 
without concern           holding
                                                     them
up clasping
                                                     around them    from behind
floating            amplexus          dying                                          
in the chlorinated pool         rubbery
                                       bleached…

…awakening on the shore     dressed
and smiling     they walk away                            
                                                      undreaming
the past             leading Ahgreyeuss
into the bedroom
             where he awakens
again from forgotten   limbs                                                     

…

In the loft of a beach house     Nomioss consoles
but scolds       the windows
                                                                                        high and blue
the house empty

Out in the sea                                                                              
a swell forms driving                                                
into the shore    
                                                 upsetting the house
                                                     leaving              a cloudy
                             sky      and muddy        waters           broken
                                                     glass                  and driftwood
                             the cool                            satisfied
aftermath of a storm                 
                                   a new beach                       Ahgreyeuss and
                                                           Nomioss are
right side up
in the deserted
air breathing it
in with sea spray
walking thoughtlessly
realizing abruptly
               that people       must have been           hurt—
they go to the bluffs                                                     
finding many casualties
and many half buried
embedded in the mud            still alive—
the brothers wash         them
and dress         them
The brothers are calling for help                                              
when 
           an angry
sheriff stops   them
telling the brothers to leave   the survivors
                             there

…

When Ahgreyeuss gets to town
                          the earth begins to shake
and things to fall                                                 
                                            He wonders
if it is safer     inside                                         
                                  or out   but nowhere
is safe                                      
there are many people
gathered          by a giant      
                                      computer with lights
          bells
                     buttons
                        knobs
and a crystal ball             glowing
                                                         intermittently

Pahn squeezes
the ball             rubbing          feeling
like the captain          of a ship  unsure
that his actions will stop         the shaking                             

                                                     The townspeople taunt him
saying                                           
that he doesn’t know what he is

                                                    doing
but rain
begins to fall
                                               and he continues
                                                             to rub        certain
now         that the swaying
will stop          and the rain will fall heavily
into the soil    until
it freezes      

Pahn is wondering       if it was his own power or a coming
into harmony            or a greater     force
or an accident
               when
Ahnjehlia drives                   
                                                  up in a dark blue         car

and she drives with Ahgreyeuss

                                    off by the great waves      the clouds
that move        down to light              the earth

the snow coming    to cover
                                                              her body

Lot Lines

.

Perusing
                                         the perimeter
                                          of the yard
                                                      where he spent
                                                  his youth

having allowed
                                             its natural order
                                                  with native trees
                                                    and feral grasses

he steps across the lines
through the fences
                 into the neighboring lands

Pahn looks first                                           
into the residential yards
finding them
regimented
or poorly tended
littered       
          with outbuildings
and invasive vines
unappealing                          

He looks next                                             
into the commercial lots
that are full
of bricks
and lumber
                 and imminent forklifts

On the remaining side                                   
there are farms
big enough
                         to go running

but there are no trees
for shade
  or concealment
and the wild animals
                                    with thick pelts
                                                 which are not constrained
                                          by the borders of society
         hunt in the open
                         running into the wilderness
 
                                                                  for safety

These lands are private
and the owners       protective

A man is not allowed
to cross

…

Pahn returns                                                           
to the comfort                       
of his own meadow

taking off his clothes                        
and exposing his integrated sex
                strolling up   the gravel drive
                                             Here
he sits on a boulder                               
in the sun
as a line of cars appears
                       full of his parents’    generation

He is baffled                         
at their appearance
and is not sure what to do      
 But since they are         uninvited
                                           and in his space
he attends to his sex
                                               as if they weren’t there
But soon shame                  
                      comes to him with the realization
                         that he has 
                                                walked up his neighbor’s drive
                    and not his own

…

The cars have soon passed
and Pahn follows them

They have turned into his yard
running over the fence
making ruts
                 in his virgin field

As he ponders                                       
this unexpected event     
people on foot                                 
break through the fences
in other places

These pedestrians
are fewer
and friendlier
         and better looking

One gray haired woman
has gotten caught
in the brambles

She is older                          
but she is pretty
                                          and smiles into    Pahn’s eyes

She lies in the hammock
                                             with him
as the guests approach
                   from his parents’     unseen house

She turns into a younger woman
with large freckles
and dark eyes

She turns into teen-age twins

His hopes for love fade as the guests come nearer
and the girls become    younger     and dumb
                                            and disapproval looms
 
                                          Giving up
Pahn rolls out of the hammock
which is now        
                                             on a small rise
                                               and standing
                                                              with his old brother
                                                                and friends
            the low stratus
                        which has hovered
                             over the morning
                                                                     lifts
                                                     and dissipates

Pahn marvels                                                     
that even this small elevation
 
                                        can expand
                                                                               the sky
                                                           into a great   web
                                   of blue
                                                              and cirrus

above the fences
and hedges 
    and the rows
  of houses

and here
                                     the sky
 
                                bigger than the earth

                                    a cloudy emptiness
                                                                           extending
                                           to the mountains
                                            on the horizon

reminds him
that there is
                                  a wilderness
which his confined     wildness
                                         strains
to join.

.

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