Coronadas

a new Corona 
three years after quarantine 
back to wilderness

girls’ trip for spring break 
to collect our Subaru 
and meet our sister

miracle arches 
connect the past and future 
with hope for this life

Hold Up the Sky

your bucket list waits
for a ‘delicate’ sunset,
a breathtaking arch

your children await
at the top of a boulder 
with the perfect view

a lifetime awaits
at the end of vacation 
yet memories last

dock spider, mud, fish;
a small hardwood forest hike 
to a man-made lake

you can feel the joy
seeping through this perfect view
of nature, reborn

lakes are in my blood. 
i learned to swim in one
and love nothing more

through Cumberland Gap
we drive down to Tennessee 
and stand in three states

it’s been many years
(the gap between visits here)
and everything’s changed

Pappy’s room is new
with the antique furniture 
from their grandparents

a whole new kitchen 
to fill Donna’s empty nest
with the light of love

this generation 
will take the time to teach them
and fill in the gaps

they’ll learn who came first,
what they fought for, what they lost;
close gaps, open eyes

Kentucky River
holds the morning cliff paddle 
(limestone for horses)

you can’t find this view
west of the Mississippi 
(where it’s drought, drought, dry)

here? just paddling
along the river, the creek
till you find yourself

you might find turtles 
(soft shells, even, a bonus)
as you move along

just like the sliders
they slip into the water
hoping for the best

Kentucky has coal
but also cool rainforests 
(midsummer cooldowns)

enough rain will fall
in two days to flood a creek
drunk by my puppy

water is the life
that sustains these roadside farms
its blood for our blood

tractors welcome here
along these hilly horse farms
(barns worth more than homes)

you’ll rarely pass cars 
as you meander back roads 
in this life cycle

you might find castles
hidden in the morning mist
waiting to fill you

locally grown food
waiting at a king’s table
between life cycles

don’t let the rain win
it’s a porch-swing afternoon 
filling this cycle

i can’t capture this:
the words, the joy, the city
it’s all in this swing

i can’t capture them
filled with adolescent angst
yet so forgiving

a summer road trip
(there’s not without one)
they live it, breathe it

i can’t capture stress 
it won’t fit in this market
nor on this road home