Dawn light overtakes the candle I’ve been writing by, sleepless.
Sleepless with too many thoughts for one lifetime
Sleepless with guessing at how friends fare far away
Sleepless because my pillow nests by the Milky Way.
Awake where stars witness meteors. Look. The Universe.
Then the red smear of dawn rewards my attention.
On the first walk to the outhouse
I pass ladybugs huddled on a tree trunk.
They’ve chosen this peak at near 9000 feet for hibernation.
I’ve chosen this peak at near 9000 feet to be as awake as possible.
For weeks and weeks we are companions.
My thoughts look like that. Brain cells quivering.
At lunch I tote pages to a rock place
Where I draw and paint.
Red book meets rosy lip of Sunset Crater,
My feet, treetop’s reach.
Dots of distant pine trees
Dabs of sky between clouds.
Later a cloud to the north erupts ,
Tears me away from my reading.
Look out highway 89!
A mushroom blossoms overhead.
Buckets of rain wash trucks off the Rez,
While tourists squint through blue and gray.
Red returns as glowing rainbow.
When I’m done at the typewriter
I’ll put mint leaves in the teapot.
Light another candle.
Breathe with dusk until dinner
Take the day’s red to bed. Dream.
.
