the earth grows smaller.
wisps of cloud
come between my body
and the body of earth.

then just cloud.

in the shadow of the cloud
inside the cloud
wisps of earth
where the clouds open.

the cloud grows lighter
whiter
we rise above
and move in a world of white
light
wisp and bundle
of cloud below.

sky above and sky below.

the blue!
the blue!

above the clouds
the sun
is always shining.

and now i am here.

in the first days
it was as if, having been freed from her body
there was now a little more of her
in everything else
and everything
tasted like her.

the air, especially. the wind.

my home is ringed by mountains, this place
i call my home is ringed
by mountains
and sea.

in the first days
i would look out at the mountains and see her
in the wind in the long low clouds
above the mountains
along the sea

light, like brushwork, the energy of her
rushing along the horizon
her mane

the wind

and everything

tasted like her. as the days go by now it's more that she
tastes like everything, rather
than that vivid flash when she first got out, now
i feel her, so lightly

lighter now, but
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere

always.

* the title is this piece is from Joy Harjo's "The Dawn Appears With Butterflies"

a sloping hillside of eucalyptus, with fennel all on the ground beneath. what that must smell like in the morning sun!

the pine trees
in their dervish skirts