Eastern Oregon

Out here is miles from anywhere.
Coyotes, cattle, and sun become your companions.

Hills roll and fold, a sea of giant swells,
then flatten out, lay calm, in bleaching summer heat.

When evening unveils its stars,
life shrinks under the universe. 

For centuries, Nez Perce came to trade for Columbia salmon,
then Pioneers snaked wagons down the Blue Mountains.

Even today, dust devils coil up,
and rivers cut deep gorges. 

Sage grows low so wind can go where it wants--
whistling through wire fences.

Serenity Bay, O'Dell Lake

A deer wades in the shallows at dusk.
The lake is smooth and calm as a meditation.

Trout sporadically rise
taking flies, forming rings...

While evening dims, shadows
the size of a hand, flit across the surface.

Seizing insects, they dive in looping figure eights
or slightly graze the water,

forming ripples, which blend
back into the transparent body  

already turning a black sheen,
capturing stars, galaxies—

light from across the universe
before the Cascades existed.