Listen

"be open to catching bits of conversation" - advice from a writing teacher

listen

"my brother and sister settled the family feud finally"

we talk incessantly in nature

when the wind is blowing

and the voices become faint

the wind and the words

overpower the birds

and the wrestling of weeds

"it was on my chart"

on the trail up

brokeoff mountain

the ragged edge of eruption

the chart that nobody knows

and everyone guesses

the charting of a life?

or the pulse coursing

and being charted?

"the little boy died on the mountain"

lava rocks sharp and unyielding

taking a life in a jumble of confusion and terror

while hikers watched in helplessness

we talked about it

imagining the pain and sorrow

the agony of adverse nature

"stop that and get over here"

a little boy and a little girl

run free happy gleefully

through the camp among the trees

unbounded by air and sky

and the dirt of a forest floor

the parents finally stop it

"can't wait to get home"

through the central valley

back roads all the way

longer but better

we bought fruit off the tree

and melon from the vine

enjoyed the ripening fields

and the river roiling nearby

"the last leg"

we roll down the road

then the gravel driveway

finding our place the same

"it is nice to be home"