(for Mark)

I go to Clear Creek
to brush away cobwebs,
walk sideways to Eva’s arbor,
hug my walking stick,
put fear under the nightshade,
read my Jing Shin Jyutsu
(the art of god through man)

I take off my shirt,
tight-walk over a chasm
on a fallen oak,
climb West Pinnacle,
investigate mushrooms:
structures more fragile
than clear thoughts