Along the Path
Along the path
Singed peeled white pine trunks erect in fields of ferns
eroded boulders cradling many fingers in bloom
spiked pinecones dripping sap kick'd to mark time.
Along the path
Feasts of scents sounds textures colors
thresholds into the imagination
Bear plays a scintillating saxophone to a swarming cloud of gnats
resting crosslegged on a bed of blue-eyed grass
hosting a drone choir of drunken bees
foot thumping the air on the downbeat
while oblivious workman-like ants zig and zag in double-time
he turns to camera 
"honey-infused ursine blues is sooo much sweeter"
a painted lady weaves in approval around the bell of the horn
Oh Yeah
suddenly lizard scurries off beat crow shrieks the alarm
An intruder like a tourist walks into the alpine scenery
along the path he hums a few bars of Giant Steps
he enters the landscape like a painting a jam session a cinemascope drama an eight-hundred page romantic novel
with some anticipation much curiosity and measured wonder
long then short then long shadows drift and define 
what he sees hears smells commits to memory

Singed peeled white pine trunks erect in fields of ferns
eroded boulders cradling many fingers in bloom
spiked pinecones dripping sap he kicks to mark time
along the path in the painting he enters like a landscape