How It Could Happen

Imagine a life so complete
that sunlight
turned to water
and then to mist:

Where did this come from?
everyone asked, scanning and turning in circles,
tracing the veins of the canyon,
exploring the jagged ridges,
even closing the Interstate.

One thing’s for sure — It’s big.
It has to be to twist this deep
inside our skin
and turn our dreams back
right side out
again after all these years
someone tried to explain,

while east of there,
the snowpack began to melt,
ran down the slopes of the Tetons,
meandered through meadows of lupine
and into the Snake
where sunlight turned to water
and then to mist
and the sky
was a shimmering opal
as deep as the sea.

Hear it: