Tea Chatter

Under dripping morning's moisture,
chatter of the chocolate Percherons
                     19 hands tall
                     standing solid in the stable
                     their muscled jaws
                     grinding sweet fescue.

Chatter of the quality of tea flasks
                     how to remove stains
                     from stainless steel:
                     boiled water & dish soap.

Chatter of footwear
                     shoes soaked clear through
                     from crossing meadow
                     that sponged up
                     last night's random clatter
                     peppering our tarps.

Chatter of the good life
                     living in constructed nests
                     birthing nestlings, whom we feed
                     with tenderness of eagles
                     alighting with some
                                             shreds of flesh
                     on poplar roost
                     mirrored in a lotus pond
                     the fierceness of their voice
                     ignored by grazing geese.

Chatter of the lovers of men, who
                     sampled tofu, turmeric,
                     vanilla, prickly ash;
                     the women left behind
                     to fend for offspring
                     born of fleeting trysts.

                    

Silver Lake, Red Mountain Campground