Mt. Tamalpais – L.E. Rea (1868-1927)
There are no windows on the south wall
to let the sun’s heat into a hot summer room,
but a 3’ x 5’ L. E. Rea painting framed
of Mt. Tam I thought was Montana
when I was a boy in my grandfather’s house
hanging above the mantle over the blazing,
hairy arms of grapevines pruned, hauled
and piled for the winter by the barn
with the remains of corrals for draft
horses and mules back in the day—that
my sister and I damned-near burned down
playing with matches. The fire trucks came
at dusk from town, sirens screaming closer
before I ever saw the flames.
Sunlight through mottled clouds
on the hillside near begs my eyes to stay.
Its bare, steep peak drawing me
from my desk to the south wall
like a window to a better place.
drycrikjournal 