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