He stands before her
as surveying a Renoir, overwhelmed
by red splashes from her nails, her lips
Entranced by her sparkling blue eyes
and hair swept across her shoulders
its crackle, as wind blown fields of barley
Her words cool him as though
dipped in Box Elder Creek
Her moves have the grace of cirrus skies
He thinks this is a settling place
fit to build a homestead
slightly edited from West Texas Homestead, page 13 in Honey & Darkness, iUniverse, 2009