Summer Solstice 2021

It is good to live in the sticks.  

It is also difficult to live in the sticks.

As most of the country gets vaccinated and recovers from Covid, 

our stubborn red county here in western Colorado suffers disturbing 

numbers and more deaths than ever from the ongoing pandemic. 

We have less than a 30% vaccination rate, and no precautions in place. 

As the drought continues and record-setting temperatures soar,

the fires continue throughout the west.  

The river depletes.  The groves

expire.  What blooms

in summer is wildfire. 

It is good to live in the sticks.

It is also difficult to live in the sticks.  

Let it be said of our kind 

when surrounded 

by fires

       still they sang.

We were invited to a lovely summer solstice celebration on the Monument over

the weekend.  Mary Hertert, Jere Friedman, and Heather Hayden, and their nine 

beautiful gongs raised the vibration throughout the canyon and through the valley.  

I couldn't help notice that as with poetry, it wasn't just about the sound,

but the silences.