away from the road 11
Or standing here and there in the open grassy places,
Or paired and fl anking the trail at one bend he knew.
2. over the fence
You went in between big orange groves
On the way up there. The trees,
Standing in long straight rows
Each row and each tree in it
Spaced the same, were once
Skillfully tended. Neglected later,
Yellowing, some of them
Already dead, they were some more
Speculative real estate, though that morning
As he drove through they were still
Sending equidistant shadows
Aslant over the black-top, between which
The low-going sun had laid fl ush a row
Of wide palings, pure light: they hurt his eyes,
One after another fl ashing an instant
Before vanishing smoothly under the tires.
Mid-December, 1993
high summer
She moved so fast
sometimes -- in the house
and out and back in
in one rush -- but unruffl
ed --
just from her usual
abounding energy
that one time
the dog sat up
and began barking
from sheer excitement.