ANOTHER NIGHT IN THE PURCELLS

Sun-circle-between-mountains,

No double vision into the forest,

                                       tamaracks doing a second needle-death,

The old folks at home

Looking into the future.

Light gone, tamarack rust gone,

                          darkness, the last clown, sweeping his soft cape.

The music of the sky is endless

And so I sit still, and then

I can’t stand it anymore and get up.

                                                            Everything is scarce up here

But distance, and so I look at that.

And keep on moving, and look at it,

                                                                but it never changes

No matter how hard I look.

Whatever we do see starts and ends out of nowhere,

A place we’re familiar with

As we try to look beyond what emendates our lives.

We look for another heaven,

                                                   we look for another earth.

In the Gulf of Alaska, icebergs dwindle and drip.