Once we lived on the lip of a volcano
evidence of the living earth
hot sulphur breath
restless stirrings vibrating land beneath our feet
I cannot think of that moving earth
without seeing hula
graceful hands describing liquid rock
emerging in lower Puna
Cracks opened in the sidewalks
hot volcano breath emerged
then fountains of red
about to make rivers to the sea
It was the ultimate act of becoming
fierce, relentless
earth making and earth breaking
healed skin hard lava scars thirty feet deep
We lived there ten years
through sixty thousand earthquakes
there were tsunamis
nature showing off any old time
Now we have a quiet house
on a plain street
in the middle of the old city
here we celebrate becoming
tamely
with trowels and pecan shells
we watch for the trees to bud
flowers to open
over the quiet earth
There will be wildflowers
Robert will finish the wall
there will be grapes
lavender will bloom
We went from hundreds of trees
in the rainforest
to this silent lonely oak
six aspen out beyond the wall
tender leaves beginning to open
I am ready for nature’s calmer drama
even though I made peace with the trembling earth
even though I belonged to the lonely island
and the island to me
as proof look into my heart
listen to the mele
be the undulating land itself a moment
feet joined with the rhythms of home
#NaPoWriMo
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