They Won't Let Me Stop

scoop beads on needle

ink touches paper

stalk the whitetail

wait still for trout

crack acorn shells

fingers smear pastel

blend

twist twice bear grass & fern

ahead

this

instinct or voices map

direction always

immediate

in polyglot pieces unsolved

heartbeat on hide

dissolves

what stood between us

what felt so fast

moves more patient than I knew

off the heat on pavement

the turn of gravel under boot

dust that sits on western memories

like sunlight on a quilt

relocation

occupation

disintegration

mixed

marriage

melting wars

&

education

never do cease

progress that carries

every hand that ever

touched your medium

& in the quiet places

they are easy to hear

murmurs

joy, hope,

determination

that

i would burn

angelica,

some sage,

learn,

remember

place it here