Long walk alone today

rambling over that 

which divides us

iron castings coal & calcite 

scrabble under foot scrambling

in cliff dwellings once hovered

 

This wild life scattered 

cats and coyotes

nuts and berries 

a young canine perhaps 

consumed & dropped.

Fresh deer prints…

 

my pursuit of wildness

explodes in a white

tail end waving

like the Queen’s hand

an adolescent quickly 

diving into sparse wood

 

disappeared

 

so fast I wondered 

if it really happened

in this now solitude

rebuffing the scourge 

of loneliness with

that ever elusive 

 

present moment

                

this world always 

 

brings into my 

                    periphery.