from July, this time 4 tears ago:

         12

  
         The river moves so slowly   lentamente
 abrazo   over the infinite flatness
 of the plains   and this salient leaf
 of silence   this   Mile   Long   (mental

  
         Minnesota)   Bridge   is flat as the water
 spreading in lagoons of silt and sand
 lateral swamps   where mosquitoes dance
 in vast eddies   their wheezy route

  
         of squeaky violins   a muted accompaniment
 between yesterday's birthday   (when
 a little redhead railsplitter's new
 crown came crowning   a little Quito seed

  
         of egalité   a level plain fieldworker's hidden
 purl of water-born   horizon-bounding
 corazón   or   knot of clover-lava revery
 unraveling into   reverèd silver   undone

  
         yet   all done to be   to be   lent
 to the current   the way a catenary
 arching smile curves up   reticulate
 from my muttering clay   a talent

  
         worth   exactly one penny   no more
 mustered from the bottom of the well
 to bend from the flat surface of the wall
 into a sheep-Ravenna   or   a Roman

  
         adequate flowering   returning what was owed
 the debt of a lifetime buried   in the depths
 of lye   from the ashes   for washing   pith
 drifting from an almond shell   a dowry-

  
         dhow   returned   for a broken vow)
 and a yet deeper pulse:  that green child
 awaiting recompense   on the linchpin
 of   tomorrow's valentine   (crumbled Wovoka)

        
                                2.13.2000