The reason Echo Heights is important
isn’t just because of the trees
or the birds or the bees
or the salal that grows past our knees
or the huckleberry summer

The reason Echo Heights is important
is about all those but more,
it’s about what’s in store
and what’s the score
if we open the door
to the moneymen’s idea of success

The reason Echo Heights is important
is because something must stop
before we all begin to drop
or burst or pop
before reaching the top
of someone else’s misbegotten pleasure

The reason Echo Heights is important
Is because we all need some quiet
(don’t knock it ‘til you try it)
with no price tag, no “Buy it!”
no complicated diet
from our overly-consumptive guilt

When did you ever see
a seriously overweight deer
or an owl with 5,000 square feet of nest
or a red-legged frog with a ride-on lawnmower?

When did you ever see
a vinyl-sided drop of water
or an official community plan for a forest
or any kind of committee for a mossy meadow
or traffic jams by the western hemlock?

The reason Echo Heights is important
is because it already knows how to live
(quite well, thank you)
without any help or assistance
as long as we keep our distance
and only visit with reverence
(kinda like a prayer, for what we’ve lost
on our way to the shopping malls
or the air-conditioned nightmares
we call home)