Into
Erec Toso
It comes as a surprise
When the lug of my boot
Bites deep into granite till
On a trail steep
Overgrown after the fire.
I lean onto the
Walking stick
And break out of my thoughts
And into this charcoal forest.
Edges dissolve
And I step terrified
Through a gateway of
Blackened ponderosa pines
Into a sensate
Tide that rises
To my mouth so I can swirl
The dust of dead trees
To my ears so I devour
The green of bracken fern
To my eyes so that I can sip the chit chit
Of a flicker.
How wonderfully upright
This chance slip of the gears
This improbable marble in the slot
This off camber falling
Into a winning hand.
~~~~~
Erec Toso once found a bleached and cracked desert tortoise carapace. He took it home to his garden where it slowly sank into the soil. Though he has tried, he has not yet found another. He writes now about his search.