July in Nisbet Forest

Arterial twin pathways lattice heat like breath-
holding; tiny drops of crimson, glass-encrusted -
crunchy in the way of broken promises -
hot sweetness like desire
but sharp and red as
life

Also alfalfa
forging signatures of night-
sky indigo
blossoms to protest the sun
and its red-yellow-gold heat
stamping its tiny waving fronds into the air
shimmering with passion
storming the walls and
scattering purple
royally
and
liberally
all the while roots carefully fixing the nitrogen
for the rest of us, locked in day

Dogsbane drips bell-flowers
pink and white, pealing fragrance
across the cool forest floor
stealing through shadow stripes and
hoof-printed hollows
that echo the panting of the dog beside me
fighting heat - truce! - his white-flecked tongue
flying along beside us
but no response
from the sun and the shade and the
piercing bird cries

echo echo
through tall slumbering trees who
drink these days for breakfast
and whose silence pulses rhythmic
growth in private lines of vertical thought
and parallel perspectives

like dark to light to dark to light
like blood to breath to blood to breath
like summer autumn winter spring
leaves to branches
ring on ring on ring

and the river deeply dreaming
under the pelicans' spell
brown breathing
green knowing
older than us all and still

forgiving