This Is My Office
I’m up before first light,
let the dogs out into the dark wild
and listen for Screech Owl whispering
her soft falling call from somewhere
very close, maybe an oak over-leaning
the tool shed. This is the time
when sight gives over to sound, smell,
touch – if it might rain, or a breeze
stirring news off the higher hills.
My office is between
bedrock mortar and hydraulic monitor,
roadside chicory, a glimpse of fox.
Driving the gold trail, I’ll see
field and orchard disappear into a haze
of distant forest, the Crystal Range.
This is my office. It has to do
with the work of seeing, telling.
It has to do with wonder
and praise.
~ Taylor Graham
from Windows of Time and Place: Poems of El Dorado County (www.coldriverpress.org)