author’s note:

In an interview, the actor Tommy Lee Jones claimed that he used to attract squirrels by knocking two fifty-cent pieces together.

Unable to locate any fifty-cent pieces, I tried to do the same with two quarters.

But squirrels, apparently, are not so cheaply bought.
 

DRY ALIVE

Despite an occasional cough
I am breathing well
these dry days.

Even the simplest act–
    appreciating the squirrel’s
    hoarse, strained barking–
can lead me into real time.

My birds gather quizzically–
wait for puddles to appear

but the wise cloud knows
when to release rain.

To write about dryness
–imaginary emptiness–
vitals my blood.  Honest expression–
even when wrong–corpuscles
this life well.  So many secrets
I’m still trying to tell myself.

Here’s one secret:
           the worst drought
can bring more
than the best rain shower–
I’ve received so much
from dusting on this trail.

When the desert wind rustles
these bare branches into fear
the sky shatters
and yet–I can still see
an open blue heaven.

© 2008, Michael R. Patton
dream work