YELLOWSTONE

SEGMENT

out of sight

An undecided day, the sun is
with us for a moment, passing through
the trees, causing everything touched
to appear like
an inspirational get-well card

Then a wind, heaving itself
against the trees, uprooting some,
obscures the sun with dust, with dust
and thick acrid smoke. blown up
from burning yellowstone

The canadian is late
gathering a winter supply of wood,
even though the uprooting
of a few trees mght serve his purpose,
the wind has otherwise ruined
his day, or the plans he had made
for the day,
his chainsaw idle, stilled
by the erratic wavering of
emily carr's forest, the subsequent
lack of predictability
making the art of falling dead trees
high risk, dangerous, deadly

The road remembers its traffic, the path
all the feet which possessed it.
The sky recalls each of our smoky tortures.
The living ocean girdled with our excess:
drivel, sputum, grapefruit rind
smorgasbord morass of greedy lip drool
we casually or causally assist
down
our favoured magic pipes and out of sight.


-Timothy Shay