Taxonomy of Loss: Bodies of Water v2.3

relentless rain, the cistern overflows
the distillation and
collection of all the sadness of the left behind.

water, the dissipation in
swirls and ebbs, eddies and whorls
of blackness into light
and back to black
bodies
of water.

the all encompassing ocean
is in the rain drop
concentrated as essential loss.

2. volcanic crater:

a lake purpled by altitude
a granite bowl of ink
against the sky turned dull and listless by comparison.

drowsy with color, drifting in all directions,
trunks in silhouette
gnarled by the short light of the long summer morning.

in a car, nearly 45 years ago,
with my parents and my sister.

2a. the stagnant puddle
teams with larvae and pollywogs
losing tails to gain legs

3.
A spent battery,
a clot of leaves,
runs the rivulet in the gutter.
Cookie Del Rio wrapped her car
around a light post after
too much beer
and too many reds.

and where would she be
30 odd years gone down?


chasing after Mexican boys
In Woodland?
Or reformed, working her program
and swimming laps at the local Y?

4
on an oak table
in a green room,
the glass vase holds
daisy water days gone.

that room was your bedroom
and is no longer.

there was a time
whenever I passed the room

I was reminded.

5
The ocean keeps getting deeper
15 years falling
into the end
that never ends

trickling
cold fingers of memory
rescind the real and move it darker
into another sadness that is
the ocean getting deeper

15 year passed
and gone still, and utterly forever
water over rocks
in sun
fishing for trout
on the South Fork of the American River
past Placerville, Strawberry and Lover's Leap
past Tamarack and up the hill and at the Bridge
or in your secret spot
down by the red cabin

Salmon eggs on a hook
an afternoon in 1963.

The South Fork of the American River
Leads through Rio Vista and Antioch and Martinez
to the Bay
to the Golden Gate

(bridge to bridge)
(mountains to oceans)