Red-tailed hawk Red
ring from a milk jug
encountered on the Mishe
Mokwa Trail But it wasn’t that plastic
piece of dread No The red
of someone’s pony-
tail holder something shed
as involuntarily as red
blood cells Maria
fatigued unknowing blaming
age I blamed some unknown
hiker careless I thought dropping
trash amidst the black
sage and juniper Who
drinks milk on a
hike I should have
thought but didn’t stop
to think No one
No one drinks a jug
of milk on the trail
You’d have to lug
it sun needling
you plastic in your pack crushing
the muffins your girlfriend made
just for you plastic unbreathing blocking
your back from breathing growing a dark
pool of sweat around itself Take it
easy we tell one another as if
there is a way to tell life
I’m taking it easy I have no
time for illness not even
someone else’s Maria
is in a different
country My fault the fault
line between us My
travels Chemo radiation their
own country On my way
down the peak I took
another dog’s poop—
it was bagged—offered
to take it to the trash
much to the dog’s
person’s surprise the dog a water-
color composition of my own
dog’s colors wagged
his tongue in response
That’s when
the hawk
red-tailed gliding
on time tied it
in a circle
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