twilight

It's my favorite time of day and I can't hold the words inside any longer. Twilight brings them out of me. As the outline of the trees becomes black and the night air cold and stiff, peace overwhelms me. There is some mysterious answer to all the world's questions which presents itself as the sky turns a deep, dark blue with the earth silhouetted against it. Shapes and forms void of color are reduced to there mere essence. Everything stills, if only for a moment, to say "it is time"; time for rest, time to lay down one's head, and time for the day's end and night's beginning. When the first star appears-Venus glimmering in the distance- I know that twilight has passed and I must wait for it once again.

Have you ever?

Have you ever really examined a leaf? Have you pushed it up to your nostrils until you were intoxicated by its smell? Have you wrapped it round your finger like a ring? I will tell my husband one day to find a ring which fits as snuggly as this leaf. Its veins press into my skin, slowing the circulation of blood, that I would feel their presence. The top side of this green ring is smooth, with a waxy cuticle to protect it from the sun. Below are soft, white hairs and holes which open and close to exchange the daily necessities. As I look into my hand, I wonder if I will ever be as efficient as this leaf is at collecting the sun's rays, converting them to energy, and bursting from the earth.

can it be?

Can it be that I went on a hike today up the Cuesta grade?
Can it be that the Black Sage was so yellow on the hillsides I mistook it for the sun?
Can it be exactly as I imagined?
Can it be that we climbed inside a dark, damp cave which had no end?
Can it be that Mimulus, Artemesia, Quercus, Laurus Nobilis, and Salvia all crossed our path?

Can it be as I felt it was?
Soft, warm, and real?

What is it about nature that speaks to me so? Why do I feel at once lost and found. Can it be my heart?

orange beings falling

Today someone flew into my car
just to say hello

I was driving back from class with
my windows all rolled down
as I noticed that orange beings
were falling from the sky
they rotated like the tops of helicopters
only to land on the asphalt below

I woundered at their courage
to leave the tree they once knew
to enter a world of motorvehicles

When I returned home, I noticed
that one of these celestial creatures
had landed on my passenger seat
Upon closer examination,
I discovered
the fuzzy orange hair on its top
and rough rhinocerous skin below
and in that instant I knew that
this 3 petaled seed capsule had burst
just to say hello

all the king's men

What is a trussel realy, but a bridge-one giant span that can bear the weight of a train. I long to be able to reach as far as this metal being can stretch its arms. It is folded into the hillsides of San Luis like you are folded into my heart. Can you hear the train coming as the creatures begin to stir? It cuts across the landscape like a knife. But who will eat the fragments which remain? Taste the fragmentation, invasive species, and topsoil erosion; What a feast! All the king's horses and all the king's men do no eat as well as this.