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