getting unlost again
i leave the car at the overlook
follow the trail down
the far side of the mountain
where a flash flood preceded me
in the wee hours
scouring the steep parts
mounding up leaves on every flat
it's the day after thanksgiving
and the day before deer season
a half-mile from the highway
i find a pair of black trousers
sprawled beside the trail
i fold them and put them back
the trail meets another trail
on boardwalks over a spring
passes three camp sites
on the shore of a long-gone pond
goes up over the front
porch of a cabin
and back into the forest
where oak and hemlock shadows
darken and fade as the sun
goes in and out of hiding
i leave the trail
bushwhack through mountain laurel
gape at a massive rock oak's
full-throated silence
black birches perch
on exposed skeletons of roots
i follow forest roads
the second one gated
past what must be
a research plot
a large fenced enclosure
full of small flags
and much to my surprise find
the unblazed trail i'm looking for
back up the ridge
the forest on my right
facing off against pole
timber on my left
to the windy crest
its rocks and vertigo
gaps in the trees revealing
gaps in the clouds
patches of sun that cross
the next valley and vanish
while off to the south all
the mountains shine
here in the gloom pileated woodpeckers
are stripping bark off a tree
i pass three hikers discussing
the perils ahead
the clouds thin out
and the rocks begin to glow
sunset colors in mid afternoon
at a place called david's vista
a young man appears
and climbs a ridgetop pine
in the bitter wind
makes himself comfortable
another david perhaps
hoping to be found
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