04 Feb Back 40: On Rock Creek

Your grandmother watches

lodgepole and poplar
scatter morning light

across a scrim of dust
lifted from the skin of the earth

I am trying to show you how

the fallen tree nearby
is a fallen tree

and an expression
of fallenness

and this expression is exact

Your grandmother moves

from a stillness she keeps
taking each step

as though it were borrowed
as though it must be returned

I am trying to show you how

the passing water nearby
is passing water

and an expression
of passing

and this expression is exact