indistinct ripples of memory
dance across your eyes
your name is known but vanished
like the time since i saw you last
like it was a different life
it seems so long ago
how has it been
twenty years

my friend

dawn breaks coral-fire
valley-gathered fog
soaked with sunrise

river exhaling mist
currents toppling downward
cracked limestone bedrock
canyons split by time

desert-barren foothills
frozen waves of earth
breaking on blue ridges
bristling thick with fir-tops
cornered coyote mountains
snag wayfaring clouds
compiling afternoon thunder

My life, then, hung like a
sun-yellow mobile that spun
in the heat as I flowed from
one end of summer to the other.
The songs on the radio were
my island.  My life as a girl
in the years before fences
appears in memory slides,
dressed in the beaches of  
youth.

I grew from seeds to roses in
the ground of my childhood
summers.  In the calendar of
my life as a young girl
every date prefigured you.
Day by day, in the years of
growing I bought, with the
barter of my soul, all the
heat and all the music.

Battened by the times before
you, strengthened by long
storms, hot suns, cold winds,
this, then is what I offer
you:  deep beaches, thornworn
roses, summers that flow
from one end of your life
to the other.

Caroline Shank

its like i'm in this tiny aircraft
climbing steep and fast
when we hit rough air
i lose my grip
f
r
e
e
-
f
a
l
l
i
n
g

i
n
t
o
a deep
and dark
bog of depression
and it always alarms me
how i'm always so surprised
because it always goes this way
i trudge thru the swamp of sadness
just like atreyu did - a smile on my face
my savior up ahead and behind her
is this tiny aircraft-its always there
and i always get in gratefully
the mire quickly shrinks
and i do it all again

rushing wind whistles by
most sounds swept away
but i can hear rustling leaves
that must be thankful
for the strong stems that anchor them
to strong branches
just as the tree must be thankful for roots
which are thankful for the dirt
even though the blowing sand stings
as it erodes the tough bark
which the tree is thankful for btw

i hear birds chirping but none fly
it's almost like today's their sabbath
like maybe every so-many days
they take a rest
or maybe it's just too windy to fly
either way two are mourning
due to the lack of work they put in
as they were lazy and built a poor nest
i found their chick dead
on the lawn this morning
i guess we all reap what we sow
poor little thing - i blame the parents

in following the tree's example
i guess am thankful that
i live in a beautiful place
and what else should i expect
it's wyoming
it's windy
it's just that it would be so nice
to have one
even if it were just one
calm day

i'm sure the birds agree