So offshore volcanics & an epoch of ocean

sediments kiss & uplift, rotate & tip

into mountains.

So never-sleeping rains nick & notch & carry away

mountains. So the season deepens.

Winter rivers run backwards

silver-red with salmon, black-eye & thin-bone

mountains. So snag, deadfall, debris, & rot—

& these mountains grow trees

of unspeakable size. Redcedar, fir, & spruce

hold great boulders in their roots, swish

their swishy tips

& deliver the weathers. Each is a green-shining

star, each feeds

the greener universe. By all accounts,

they are adored. Then by my kind cut. So

mudflow, fire, thermal die-off, leached nitrates. So

I tromp up this river of howling

atrocity

& down. Sprawl on a wing of gravel bank

my whole self out. I grieve, believe.