Don't Mention It

              Quartz Mountain, Oklahoma

Twice inundated by oceans, this

mountain, not quartz really, but sand,

thrusts up in igneous activity.  Even

mist that hangs at dawn like a rain cloud

in Hunan, lends its grace to its song.

And what of that complexity of communal life:

humming birds, backyard cardinals, chicadees,

pelicans and porcupines?  They nest

in our morning walks like crystal

pockets in red granite.  Like us, they belong.

The first settlers of Oklahoma,

hunted mammoths 18,000 years ago.

Now we prowl dark caves until tiny

sweet faces of bats glint in our light.

And only the ring-tailed miner's cat moves.