I had to go and sit while my brain ran around.
I had to go and sit while it played killdeer.
I had to sleep with my eyes being crows
with my feet being the mountains
with my cock being the spring river
with my hands the stars.
my teeth turned to bark
my mouth to roots
nose to leaves

----

we took off our skins and laid down inside each other and in
the headwaters made
what became in time a third

while down-
stream

---

I watched a junco (junco hyemalis) catch a wasp over the fire pit, go
clean its beak on the vine maple.
I'm staying with them.
They say, "the sharper the knife, the cleaner the line of carving."
They say, learn the names of as many of us as you can.

----

 the night sky was filled with birds

----

the wind moves

the mountain moves

we move

----

The song and the quill and the life given.
All the dappled shade there ever was gathered up at once.
The sound and shape of rising rivers darkening
to umber embankments year after year.
The multitude of ways to say love.