OWL OF THE DESERT
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​Continental Divide

​We drove through Yellowstone
watching Old Faithful
in ponchos, welcoming
the geyser’s predictability.
     Blood (we knew)
     is half water.
 
We drove with the radio low
listening to unfamiliar stations,
staring at bison herds
dotting the prairie
     like raisin clumps.
   
               The rain stopped.
We crossed over the Continental Divide
splitting watershed without consensus
between Pacific and Atlantic―
the indifference of geology
we call nature.

     Natural? a great caldera
of pressure built by earthquake
and fire and salt― 
               not loss
alone but loss of self.

The rain resumed. 
     Lines on the wet pavement
blurred as we drove
in the dead of night
feeling the asphalt murmur,
miles melting 
     our wafer-hope.
 
We drove on
searching ourselves
     for second opinions,
for absolution,
reaching home―
finding home
was not what we had thought.
 
A raisin is just a shriveled grape
missing its water.
     Yet small things form a wedge
as sure as any mountain peak
parting rainfall
​
     flowing
     toward different
     seas.
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  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Seven Stations of the Cross >
      • Jesus Condemned to Die >
        • Life Signs
        • Fashionable Religion
        • Tithing Declaration
        • A Pretty Important Detail
        • Jesus is All
        • Salt Lake Temple
        • Zion in the Lion's Den
        • High Noon
        • Bookmark
      • Jesus Stumbles and Falls >
        • Unveil
      • Simon of Cyrene Bears the Cross
      • Women of Jerusalem Weep
      • Jesus Stripped of His Garment
      • Jesus Nailed to the Cross
      • Burial and Resurrection
    • Fleeing Egypt >
      • Tower of Babel
      • The Orchard
      • Tithing Settlement
      • Chastity for Churches
      • Sign
      • Cleaning House
      • Elijah
      • Rulers of Sodom
      • Beware
      • Two Churches
      • Beginning At My Sanctuary
      • Toll Road
      • Get it Strait
      • Corporation Sole
      • The Religion of the Circle R
      • Fig Tree
      • Eve
      • New Jerusalem
      • Shemlon's Shore
    • Ascending Sinai >
      • Ark
      • Sin of the Calf
      • An Idol Observation
      • Dew from Heaven
      • I love you, Elder Holland
      • Easter
      • How Sweet
      • Haiku
      • The Barn
      • Patron Saint
      • A Conversation with Brigham Young
      • Mine Testimony
      • The Meadow
      • The Gardens
      • Ice Fishing
      • Without End
      • Forest
      • Continental Divide
      • A Great Sacrifice
    • Promised Land >
      • Lanolin
      • Zion
      • Wisdom
      • Take Up Your Cross
      • Was the Sun the Same
      • Plain and Precious
      • Bridegroom
      • Faith
      • Amos
      • But First
      • Wax
      • Parable of the Piano
      • Repentance
      • Wake Up, Child
      • Cold Storage
      • Covered Wagon
      • Multiply and Replenish
      • Rollercoaster
      • The Baptist
  • Blog
    • Previous Posts >
      • 2023 Posts
      • 2022 Posts
      • 2021 Posts
      • 2020 Posts
  • About
  • Contact