Taking the cows home
a week after weaning
snakes easily over the saddle
and down to the water
of collected dreams.
I remember yellow
Euclid trucks dumping
layers of native pasture
armored with rock
across the river in ’59,
flooding shoreline picnics
and ground squirrels targets
where the Wukchumne camped—
where Loren Fredricks
never learned to swim
afraid of the three-foot carp,
sun-dried, he had to ride upon
in a horse-drawn cart
up Dry Creek to Eshom
before he became a cowboy.
Snow stacked high
on the Kaweahs, we held
the water back when Visalia
was a town, spread the city out
with no water in the ground.
Blond cowgirl
on a palomino
in the wild oats
above black cows
and Lake Kaweah—
taking them home
a week after weaning
snakes easily over the saddle
and down to the water
of our collected dreams.
drycrikjournal 
such fantastic imagery, it really captures ones mind. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you. Captures mine too.
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Hmmm, you may want to read M Arax’s new book in small doses in order to preserve your teeth as you grind them……..
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He and JEG were here before completion. Read the ‘Wonderful’ part online. Folks need to know, teeth or no teeth! Ordered my copy today.
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Yes, agree……..Am finding a two-barreled approach to this fine book is just the thing— the Audible version as well as print. Reading his own work, Mark infuses his prose with the weight, the rhythm and symbolism of poetry. The print version , for me , is further learning and reflection. I think this is an important book and may even rise to the level of an Uncle Tom’s Cabin. All fingers and toes are crossed that this is so……….
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wonderful poem and photo- can they be obtained together? Is the poem in a collection? Which book would you recommend as an introduction to your work?
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Thank you, Andrew. I’d forgotten about the poem, and other than a little editing, I still like it. No, it’s not in a collection. Before Covid canceled the Elko gatherings, I was working on a new collection. Once we get through this drought, I’ll finish up.
Thanks for the purchase of RECKONING. I’ll get it in the mail.
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