The lever’s down there

Let us sit in judgment on this, to
assess who wins. The category,
a clue. The winner, not so much.

How many miles do you get to go
a sputter, a spume of that red smell
wires make when they are burning?
  

How many stops to look under the hood
a rattle, a hot stink, some smoke
looking in the rearview wondering? 

And who is doing that? And all along
it’s you, it’s you – make no mistake
driving with the brake on all day.

And there are days no matter how
carefully you pull the right lever,
everything just sticks. Pull over. Sigh.

news from a small town 15, November 2012

First day of standard time

cold cotton caught on top rocks
scat snow hides talus trails
all the deer and elk are down in town

news from a small town 14, November 2012

Not unexpected

Sixty-five mule deer
laze again in the stubble.
It’s doe season, but
too many hunters
rode shotgun three days ago,
looking for prey.

And that's the signal
for every one of them
to casually wander
down to town - like always -
to a place where gunshots
draw attention - mostly.

 At night in the yard,
an apple hits the lawn.
It is gone by dawn.
Despite the grumbles,
this is not unexpected.
Deer know what they know.

news from a small town 13, October 2012

Minam Grade

Confronted with private wishes run awry,
do you make or run, rage or numb? No one
tells you this – but there are many ways
to get to the place you are going. And
you even don’t have to know where that is.

For: Any trip you don’t get lost at least
three times could be paradise or at least
opportunity lost. Just fly the scary corners
one loop at a time, and then decide
whose wishes are those, and how do you know?

news from a small town 12, October 2012  

Haibun for Cache Creek Fire

Cache Creek Fire, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, eXtreme Northeast Oregon today - 73,500 acres, short grass, brush, pockets of timber, uphill runs where receptive fuels exist, otherwise creeping and smoldering. Single lane roads strewn like toothpaste on the cliffs and oversteepened slopes. Significant event: Vehicle rollover with minor injuries. Sunning himself too old to do the work, an old guy by the post office says sternly, “let the county burn, we need the jobs.”

outside the black,
the flaming teeth
September moon

news from a small town 11, September 2012

fire weather report

upslope fog
the thunder has passed

maybe a sleeper

news from a small town 10, July 2012

Farmer’s market

basking under the vendor canopy -
fresh kale and sun-warmed tomatoes

no price for this

news from a small town 9, July 2012