james

as I crouched in the long grass
the buzzard came down as big
as a chicken

we looked at each other a while

as it flew off I dropped all the seeds

gathered

in the wrong place

later I sat looking
and while the dragon
fly came from the water

the grasshopper came for company

that evening on the bird feeder
the mouse sat looking in

eyes like shiny black pin heads

stayed a while

i had company yesterday

i think

I shall have company again today

the ninth shade
embraces mountain peaks
in the pure clarity of morning

frost clings to sagebrush
in the ascending sunlight
of the third-quarter moon

and as life pauses
to apprehend the spectacle
of a wintry summer morning

my bones feel
the transition of season
as autumn draws near

Bound to Downward
___
Trickle--
bound to downward
  faceted presence of light
   weedling its yielded way
    to a lower level
     Smoothly pouring payment
      to tributary
Now creek is bludgeoned
by sudden stones
Stone remains....
Water is stunned plunder
     carried off
      toward hammering bastions