Route 66

Tucumcari, New Mexico

THE SILENCE BETWEEN

Rare moments

When the wind stands still
For no more than a few hours
Between great shifts in seasons
Autumn
South to north
When everything waits
For something to happen

Just time enough
For a congregation of monarchs
To confuse the weatherman
With their butterfly storm
Then the wind blows cold
Pushing them all the way to Mexico

When a honeybee winds down
From the season of sweetness
Wearing out its welcome
Drinking
I swat
It stings
I guess bees love sweet whiskey
As much as I do

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.

            -Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“In geologic time we barely exist.  I collected memories of my temporary host leaving a trace of words, my simian tracks.”

            -from the poem “Buried Time” by Jim Harrison