Friday, August 2, 2024

Ka`u Desert Hike: Elegy 10

 

Ka`u Desert Hike


You know how happy I am /

Sina / when I pump my arm /

Asking truckers to honk

Their deep horns

At my Harris sign

I waved it for you

Yesterday on Highway 11

By the orchid place

With older ladies

Many with cats

I sense you’re pleased

Out there beyond bardo

Walls in whatever form

You now assume

I’ll look for you


The desert hides nothing

But blue and yellow lava

'Ōhi'a with chipped bark

Maybe to catch the rain

Two dead white trees

Embracing where Jill

And I walked with her

GPS / nice to know

Where you are / can’t

Follow footprints

Of travelers overcome

By ash / many lack toes

Some tiny / one child

Foot in soft brown

Set ash / we put our

Boot prints down

Not for History

But to notice on

Our return / the quick

Histories of us /

The record of you

A print / I return to read

Your elegy to your

Mother / I ask your

Daughter for a photo /

Not knowing which

Or why looking at it

Leaves such a trace


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