Extraterrestrial Bobber

Saint Paul, 5 February 2004

Oil colors the inundated

Heat levitates above asphalt

We traverse a bangle that

Coils into itself then reveals

Facets of archetypal masks

I cast an extraterrestrial bobber

Peeling an onion of circumspection

Vigilance is a lonely sentry

Ears to the ground, fingers on the rails

Linemen listening for pings

Imbibing on Chinook winds

We await the advection of ancient scents

Of western pitch and cool melt waters

Like the needles of pinus ponderosa

Suspended in a snow globe of amber