Love's Strange Raft

I was so glad to finally reach the trail
a wooden spider
witnessing the cinnamon bird
kill a friend
climbing up burnt sugar
sideways after the frothy waters

I forgot the hurricane the volcano
Nature a tired sliding becoming thinner
specked yellow fat licking dusty skunk air

At the edge of the abyss cougar and lynx out for the view
aspen twirling weaving clouds close by the lake
It's faster at least looking up again where all the action is
it is so beautiful
spelled out
in a certain magazine

Read the owl the jackrabbit short lives narrowing
The chocolate river freely

USGS Application

Steam in a crack paralleling Pahoa
infrared disappearing near the geo pad
part of it meaning ever flowing
so what about changing it
anyone can propose just apply

Vocabulary List

Be my guest
take your time
please wait outside
talk to the union about this
I work for the government
the Seven Strategies
Smarter Balance
Acheive3000 the ACT
the Gates Test
free rice dot com
until the bell rings

Graphic Organizer

Rate the next and other part see how you feel
the lava is two miles away at the community
meeting they told everyone to prepare
for what might happen close by or through
town it came through before there was
a bowling alley other shops at that spot

Leaving

Winging it through days left
after tree storm find out now
what could it be today before
the hump of tomorrow an animal
to stroke keep quiet ignore its stamping

Transitional Words And Phrases

Include
opportunity
Stars great
service
lava miles
away so call

Writing About What Happened

In the beginning on (date)
first to begin with the start of
it started when it began on (date)

2.  Not long after second next then
the second thing and then

Next third...fourth...fifth

Now then as and then

After Finally Last at the end
and the last thing after everything
in conclusion

Nicer

Nice then nicer
too bright all working
what should this
where I ran what I hid during
people treated
the sense it made government

Pilot Light

Hidden then found out before too long had past
Instructions backwards what we could forget
Time disappeared there underneath the castle
Just the crawlspace a match and the heater
cooperating at last  I heard a resentment
Almost missed a presentation lemon leaves
Why I'm not on his feed what is the question

Clear Road

The road is clear
Something happened
between the trees bushes
upside down branches
The shade is gone
the tunnel open
landscape remember

Power Grid

Unhooked eventually knowing
a lot of fuss will speed things up
forgotten ones left to their own devices
food everywhere ice water thanks
out of candles out of matches
everything now seems expensive
unnecessary shuffling beneath the deck

Overnight

Overnight there was
house noise next door
someone coming quietly
middle of the community
candles propane flowers

Edges

We found something had changed.
The look of it the feel.
Raking helped. A lawn appeared
in the glass the fish smooth boulder
they worked together stayed away
solo couples came from another town
to get free water beef stew had to toss
carefully eaten edges off edges

Night's Knees

On knees night
uneven tipping
pressing down cautious
where have you been
we'll repair the roof
take fish into shade
sweep the glass
I now know what
it's like all night cracks
sky earth torn away

Body Ran Dry

There is water on the moon
frozen hidden impossible to extract
now more than ever topsy-turvy
what was calling me to look
why did I turn away too large
too small shadows crossing borders
over and over that's why the prophecy
coming true signs the young
the old did they take the time
to listen speaking about it

Mere Seconds To Say Goodbye

Where are the photos of them those strangers
three of their eight children who did not survive
bombing was it yesterday or was it seventy years ago
I know their names but not how they want them pronounced
where the stress goes what shorter form good
Does my face show distress I am a ghost finding out
how to find them by knocking on doors of rubble
picking up toxic phones listening for wheezing
sighing anything pieces of papers their signatures
what loops they use which way they slant

We Could Have Stayed Home And Died There

Instead the box I carry
air capsules all I could salvage
glad no fire bomb that was later
The truth the only one escaping
evaporating did not discover
quite settle things invasion near
my own trouble taking a disguise
days return cloudy thick with denser
air given a refinement given directions
to nowhere to nothing that anyone can find

Cease

I came to the place I left
It looked exactly the same except
brighter in places dimmer in others
I saw the way the foxes tussled
sparring on their hind legs tundra
shots obviously from the road
from heavy vehicles through mud
past the past and on into glimpses
mountain hidden then not
bigger than a name to the story