deliberately walking

We hike to a lake in the Tetons
while mountains shrug us possible.

We sing, or think we sing,
chorusing with green foliage.

Splotches of sun dapple our packs,
cotton shirts, forward faces.

Our feet drum the packed earth,
tip-tapping tiny sifts of where it all ends.

We go deep into the design,
deliberately walking.

We smell burgeoning, punk of plant sex,
colliding in the undergrowth.

The whir of birds, bugs, blooms,
spill out the corners of our eyes.

We drink it all in like a moon landing,
naked as knees, freckled,

tripping the radiance,
bending, unbending.

We go deep into the design,
deliberately walking.

Tents go up, neat domes
in the underspace.

A lake quenches our nearest
distance. We come home

to a ring of fire, sharing Beaujolais,
chilled in the stream

of our consciousness –
night and smoke and energy
muddling the purple sky --
stars in our eyes, wild.

We go deep into the design,
deliberately walking.