'Ladder on Beach,'
Adeel Ahmad
Suzanne Richardson Harvey


Tenting in Lassen Forest

How would the pine and fir awake
The flowering beds of volcanic rock
In a world without Winnebagos and dome tents
No styrofoam coolers stuffed
With ballpark franks and Chianti
Safeway bags sagging with S and W beans
Garbage cans and Coleman stoves
Flashlights and diesel fumes

In what world would the antelope and black tail
The mule deer breathe and drink the sun
Without Folgers Instant and corned beef hash
Plastic spoons and paper towels

In what liquid world would the Eagle Lake trout
The Kohanee salmon glide
Dodging no baited hooks and lines
Gripped by the hand of a species
Battling crack
Returned to a world
Whose body they remodeled
Whose face they cosmetized?