there is a parasol of shadow along the Tahquitz Creek pathway near Sunrise Way a huge mesquite has joined hands with three Palo Verde trees to create a living umbrella, here’s what I feel under it - quietude, a holy hush a sudden silence too soon I’m through, back into the harsh bright world of sunlight for some reason I never look back the memory is enough as a small reward, a tiny gift for life’s unforgivable nature

I hear rapid Spanish among the piles of green and brown palm fronds it’s the yearly trim of palm trees happening outside my glass slider, when my peace is invaded by chain saws and gloved and dark-clothed strangers they see me, cold drink on a sofa, I wave then one turns, gathers a huge stack of the cuttings, hoists them on a sweat-soaked back and carries them off to the truck I suddenly think of our lots in life, what we were born into, wondering what they think when t

while walking my steps today, I imagined not walking in my normal loop, but simply walking not straight but in an unreturnable and unknowable shifting direction, just walking and walking then I realized I’d already done that – walked away from where I started to where I am now from upstate New York, to Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Los Angeles and ending in the California desert for now, it appears I’m staying I think those that never stop are on a quest to find home