undermountain

the stars scrape a frozen peak

awaiting cover of dawn

breath and blink, flicker and finch

sun on my side, soothing and warm

you caress the conifers, tasting light,

who cast their storm-kissed needles

to the dappled, dim floor, where

gem-eyed cougars creep to watch

warm-bodied elk wander and graze

green on dark lava soil cooled by time –

Here.  It’s good for you.  Eat.

across my skin, slip the salmon

up creeks to lakes, cupped in my hands

you know me, I know you

each finger calmly at rest

feeling voles tickle my palm

through bright grub and burrow

reaching down root by root

to drink from old flood water.

I am the work of yesterday’s lichen:

an elaborate project to erode

as fungal strands weave

a delicate net of connection -

make me whole, make me one, I say,

and

you do.

Glacier-born stones

on granite beds, sleeping

in the afterglow, I wait

for the next tremor and shock

here where no light reaches

the muffled low moan

the black depth of fissures

lull me to my heart

at the center, pulled down

to the place where I lose myself

and earth herself begins.