in the manner of this blog title

one day I walked up a wash
in some places more
a staircase
of white boulders
in other places
a ramp of rock-hard watermelons
that sometimes
tipped precariously
beneath my weight
making me aware
of the fragility
of my ankles
and other bones


not long ago
this was
a 3-4 meter deep channel
i was told
and then
after the fire
the boulders washed down
and filled up the channel
a good measure, pressed down,
and shaken together
an abundance of stones
brimming over
to create this ramp


up which
we were carefully treading
to see the sharp contact
at the base of a landslide


the rocks that tipped
and clunked beneath my feet
displayed an array of patterns
within defined parameters
a sort of typical signature
for this drainage


amazing, though
so many ways
of putting white and black
together in a rock
a limited palette
but a rich result
of patterns and textures
hornblende
and plagioclase
and quartz


i picked up a moderate
sized stone
on the way back
to take home with me


the sky was still gray and close
at the end of the day
the breeze cool
despite the approach of summer


and in this little patch
of wildness
on the edge of the city
nothing was lacking

---a geologian