cinders
forgotten
thoughts

lava hills
ashes sparsely covered
with ghost weeds

lava pumice
the part-time cook
recognizes something

canyon walls
curved enough for clouds'
shadows to climb

desolate canyon
with only one note
a bird calls

desolate canyon
the apple rotten
at the core

canyon rim rocks
dwarf pines cling
with every root

canyon rim
something in me flies
over precipices

canyon rim walls
the sound of zippers
going up down jackets

canyon silence
skims the wind
a roar at the rim

music box canyon
wind in the dry river
like water running

canyon ledges
stones return the music
to wind

cemetery wind
sounds in the shells
of one's ears

all of their possession
side by side
cemetery plots

out of the cemetery
the first laugh
a cold wind

thunder
knees on graveyard earth
tremble

their eyes closed
to a million dollar view
a seaside cemetery

crossroads cemetery
the old man asks
the way home

buried here
autumn woods are full
of ancestors

riverside cemetery
late in autumn
chilled waters still

leaving the cemetery
sunrise
on frost-cracked soil

burial ground
naked trees veil
the sunrise

walking the land
that has taken my parents
their years

wheels of the hearse
packing the powdery snow
into useless patterns

dust devils

swirling white clouds
on the desert floor
dust devils

neighbors
on the road in litigation
dust devils

crater winds
blowing back in
a thousand years

crater
where the earth exploded
a couple argue

graves

photographing
the graves
without film

church bells
a spade cuts through
stony ground

open grave
frosted air penetrates
deep into earth

tending the graves
the dirt under my nails
is just a beginning

childless
standing beside a mother
at a child's grave

out of the grave
the sinking casket
pushes the light

a frosty night
gravestones rise
the width of a crack

hole in the silence
grave diggers alone
lower the coffin

between the graves
fences between friends
falling apart

visiting graves
the stone at dusk
warms

visiting graves
stone gardens lengthen
autumn's cool

his grave
filled with
his earth

his grave
covered with
my sky

rain
covering his grave
with low clouds

juicy blackberries
under the tangled vines
a forgotten grave

after visiting graves
a night of fever-chills
their nightmares

late afternoon
afraid to take nap
while visiting graves

last daughter
selling his house
setting a stone

"gone but not forgotten"
the white obelisk
in a patch of weeds

forgetting where
the family stone
sinks in

tombstones
marking those things
that don't die

deserted beach

deserted beach
alone with the waves
of Septemberness

October beach
in all the footprints
the tread of shoes

autumn blooms
soft white cotton balls
a harvest field

brown harvest field
the balls of white cotton
polka dots

maple hills
stain the evening sky
autumn

barren hills
yet patches of purple
shadow

steps to the cabin
where you once lived
low in broken grass

selling the house
the scratch of a pen
in the family name

a chain of old keys
in a closed house
unlocking memories

the deed signed
taking down the birdhouse
dad built

bodies buried
and now the house belongs
to someone else

village lights
stretch down the road
draw us home

the afternoon sun
slants over a hand-made house
paints it September

selling the house
one last swim in the lake
the water's calm

flying home
at 35,000 feet my folks
are not here either

nights the dripping roof
walks alone around the house
on one leg

hot springs
cool in the river
a jasper stone

desert storm
at the resort
hot springs

mineral baths
at night the many colors
in dreams

Death Valley
the underground river
a healing spring

moonlight
around the hot springs
dried salt

in healing waters
stars
old bodies

soul bathing
in hot springs
desert stars

Ley lines
lines
drawn into the earth

earth lines
converging
flute tones

walking
the line within
the mountain

a moonlit meadow
all the nun are dressed up
as clowns

a moonlit meadow
chanting women give a voice
to dark ages

sea meadow ridge
the broken fence moves
when the cows come home

heather moors
rolled r's of wind
between the boulders

patchwork quilt
the rumpled beds
of heather

clouds of fog
hovering over stems
white heather

voices winding
through the heather moor
patterned paths

Death Valley
in a bluish haze
spectral mountains

mountain peaks
folding in prayer
for centuries

desert basin
mountains washed
down flat

salt patterns
mountain shapes
blue twilight

even mountains
gentle easing into earth
Death Valley

alkali clouds
over lava mountains
moonrise

wind mountain
inverted in the crater
invisible

movement of a bush
an animal the wind
of mountains moving

white clouds
bury the mountains
in deepest black

mountains between us
holding back the dawn
hours of my longing

mountain caves
wind carving empty
eye sockets

bodies
on Indian ritual ground
wrecked cars

where Indians died
the carcasses of ponies
of old cars

Indian rocks
the night hawk's spirit
with a whir of wings

pages torn
from a sketchbook
far mountain ridges

autumn river
covering my feet wet
with golden leaves

quiet eddy pools
swirl at ankles in autumn
the ancient dead

in this light
flowing through the ages
desert river

fall
rocks tumble down
a dry river bed

white water
well-washed river
spirits

white ghost waves
rocky river ripples
roll upstream

wind rushing
into the valley
rockwater

the top of the rock
in the bottom of the pool
another stone

winding river road
the giant forest
approaches night

atop the mountain
mammoth rocks stare down
a smooth gray sea

bright sun
on the long waves of autumn
end of a day

night
the horizon sinks into the blue
water

stones

stones
in the desert landscape
my bones

ascending alone
the threshold to heaven
barren rock

dry riverbed
in one of its rocks
dreamless sleep

monoliths
shaping the moonlight
granite

moon bright
where a rock fell away
shining

strangers
on the city side walks
one has his laugh

lamplight
straightening the street
of narrow houses

approaching the temple
grasses rub the body
of a snake

logging road
cut trees that never come
to the temple

before the temple
lizards turn
the grass brown

climbing temple hill
leg muscles tighten
in our throats

breathless
atop the steep hill
temple pagoda

breathless
climbing to the pagoda
wind

sea winds blow
from temple copper domes
holy sunshine

Tibetan temple
the high-pitched hum
of an air plane

to our round eyes
temple splendors
a locked gate

temple secrets
held together
a chain link fence

temple fence
red and yellow prayer flags
poison ivy

holy smells
free in the air
between fences

temple dump
finding something
we could see

Sunday
morning light from high rocks
temples

curving
the sky dome
temple roof

timberline
granite rocks outgrowing
the trees

red rock waterfall
into emerald pools
cedar incense

water blackened rocks
falling with the waterfall
some of them

chipped rock
the shape of water
falling

old forest
on bare paths
moths

night shadows
the valley floor rises
into the sky

tired
valley slopes
sag

the earth turns
in the valley
a river bends

Death Valley
saving light at dusk
salt

Death Valley
open blue skies
clouded

vineyards

pale fog
yellow vineyards over
champagne cellars

wine-tasting
at the family-run vineyard
a cat too

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