III: The End

The pavement tide recedes

and the brick and mortar beaches

expose the fault lines of the City.

This town will one day sink into the ground

and Nature will reclaim its property.

We will pluck berries from vines

growing up the sides of office complexes

and erect deerskin tents on the shattered blacktop.

We will dance around bonfires,

chanting songs sung to the soul of everything

and tell stories about the formation of stars,

the teardrops of goddesses frozen in the sky.

The forest will whistle with wind

and billboards will be painted over with the faces of totems,

the ink distilled from the buds of flowers.

• 2009