I. 12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzmMOtRT6c
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2SxBPXdhH
the color of lapis. On this journey,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUlsWcAeXy
anything seems possible,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTgYrZYU4E
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4kqkIWBQO
to kiss. The beauty trembles,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2febxM271w
doesn't say a word, just watches12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7E2d7wBsy1
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCj9b8Hohw
in the shady tree above us. What12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbXnPPNqav
settles in her heart? What congeals?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLPiJBWpWq
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbjXIk3eJL
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQH05wVILIv
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbejHj20fd
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrPHKLnfyk
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguvXyKPNRA
She is just this side of wonderful,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPRYyYzHD4
and suddenly the glamorous world12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDUDqLigt2
fills itself with shining and we laugh12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4BptNj5DXV
at highway monuments that explain12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7j5cefT0p
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9t1TXA57Fa
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2B6MmbE9C
conversion is the devil's own12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKr5XKeQ2R
work! Then the stones of her dream12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lgUWW5PQs
turn up under her feet, the back12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuSPcgdNXl
of a huge land turtle. I know12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbmfWm8elL
we must be circling Paradise12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD24gaq7fyb
because the ants enter the fleshy petals12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuzXDez0IJ
of the roadside flowers with evident12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjuUtQsvcb
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNMzv1eoJy
Music, my adored. When is there never12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcWvVENfcJ
music? My accordion puffs up12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4B8QF4YlC
with drinkable melodies. I spill12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jn8l92ljW
her tunes into your listening ear,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUUHQeBc4G
one after the other: the squeeze-box12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtc4naxW9xA
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5XceVlIdL
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgtHqFk2Qn
breaking labor song the worker croons12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEboZKZOLYh
to earth, warbles romantic notes of12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbzxUiW9va
dissolving borders. You melt12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7zX8jgWlk
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2FGMFaARw
Music is happy and pitiless when12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkaSoaviwp
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUClWchiZOU
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FNXAMxVf1
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWC7QvRrZaj
in a whisper.) We slip into this12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0FPrPxEMi
space half cognizant. The land is very12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkif654XRZe
large indeed: bones of the earth12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCd93aMcJVX
worn down, though she is a living thing.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRmrGyec4N
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8YTELcA9V
graze on the far plain—their high,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfqPcmwgw3
white tails—the red soil throbs12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelislcaESg
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcANNLE8LTm
clears so smartly, perfectly, like12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpwJUuLeNI
radiance. Are the ancestors near?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEVS9InOT7
What can we know? We decide12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhBOr3oc3I
to wander around this prairie, mistaken12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIHMQfbuwL
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LsIxmJ38Y
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCcjooBw3E
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfBgEHVmoo
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5WYTS8xEp
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoOT0KF3yZ
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelhJME10jS
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4PSDuM36d
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl39aCGuUjY
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTwJTFQs1W
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9M1Z1oUKS
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrcHmO1lTx
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wIQVgaQ5J
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq16jiE807L
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0ZiSK0S5S
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0RSwJZkqV
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzXlsqQw7x
We look at each other, smile. For miles12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssgI97zoX6
we travel this way, nearly silent, point12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Ztfdp9Ubf
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwoAsrTTdx
fisher on the snag above the swollen12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeefdnTFCDq
creek. One night I weep in her arms12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4OaB88Drb9
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKYKhEasI5
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNY6h9aqgY
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlga4OJtnQ
break from me as I think of my love12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm07QCIT2GP
back home, all that I have done12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1F9rImrOr
and cannot say. This is the first time12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3tiZCoTLi
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCN939RU7c
