Between a mossy outcrop br and a bedrock mortar. br I watch a neighbor’s wood-smoke rise br toward the contrail br of a transcontinental flight. br br Two overwintered bluebirds br peck berries from the mistletoe of a dying oak br whose roots dig into frost-heave, br decomposing granite re-composing br tree and shadow. br br Atop a boulder, a squirrel has eaten br half a mushroom-cap and left the rest. br Coyote scat is full of manzanita berries br and fur, fragments of bone: what’s br left of gray squirrel. br br I imagine I could hear the earth turn br its worms through soil, or maybe br that’s blood running rabbit-trails br in my ears, or else br news on the breeze br br from ridges up-east and over. br I stand listening, till it’s time br to go back home.