“The Outpost” (Doubtful Canyon Cattle Ranch) — Image by kenne
Various Outposts
You traded places
with the mystery — fire-torn, insulated leaves,
the steady eyes of the huckleberry — (Haven’t you
been sad most of your life? Come on,
all those outposts in the middle . . . they say the end
of growth is that you’ll suffer “purely” . . .)
One night, remember? No envy or hope.
What you sought
was here, what was done
could not be undone by you: there was the owl,
the night’s vice president,
the tangled sheets of moon —
— Brenda Hillman
