Mount Corcoran

Mount Corcoran

        -Albert Bierstadt, 1877

 

The black bear waits

____________to kiss the water’s edge

Under fallen trees

____________the trout nap together

and the waterfall

____________hums almost unnoticed.

 

Just a “mountain lake”

______before the water dried:

From a hidden source

______the artificial light shines

on the sides

of white-capped triangles.

 

Under the clouds,

poor Al renamed his baby.

 

Under the approaching clouds,

cranes relax against redwoods,

rubbing against aging sequoias.

 

The paintbrush dabbed lightly

before another application,

before the bassinet wails

asking to be tended.

 

Oh, let’s frame it.