
• from the 1986 Sage student literary magazine •
The Swimming Lesson
Kangaroo mouse he likes swimming
in rain pools.
He learned this one late summer
afternoon in a mossy pool,
below rust colored cliffs
speckled with flowers.
A beautiful woman startled him
into the water (and he could
swim!)
When she lay her clothes on
his nest.
Paisano Pass
Its mountains refuse to
let go their green.
The rock formations
hold flowers against
their scarlet breasts
enticing barbary sheep
(brown, white, black)
to caress their skin.
Hundreds of blackbirds
circling between
red rock and blue sky.
Watching contented sheep
float up cliff rocks
with flowers
in their mouths.