Can the Cactus Know the Salamander
Can the outstretched arms of the Mantis
Know the incatching gaze of the Tarsier
Its lambent eyes reflecting mist and green
What of ocean and mountain
Can they talk of salinity and cloudburst
Rain shadow and thermocline
The mesa and the
Flat asphalt sprawl
Can they abide together
The taste and smell of
Hot summer thundershower
The cracking chafe of invading seed
And the friable winds of winter
Can the continents feel their own drift
And do they feel the Milkweed silks
That caress them with a ghost’s touch
But a touch nonetheless
Do the resinous Turpentine Pines
Recognize the refinery’s fumes
Or Freesia’s tantric scent
In their own tang
And audacious sociable Crow
What does he think of us
Does he laugh at our differences
Or cock his head and puzzle
Over his nagging sense of kinship
These clues of consonance whisper
Informing every thing
Of every other thing
Exchanging math for sense
Schemata for intuition
Form for function
And back again
One has only to listen
Because the conversation
Is endless
Know the incatching gaze of the Tarsier
Its lambent eyes reflecting mist and green
What of ocean and mountain
Can they talk of salinity and cloudburst
Rain shadow and thermocline
The mesa and the
Flat asphalt sprawl
Can they abide together
The taste and smell of
Hot summer thundershower
The cracking chafe of invading seed
And the friable winds of winter
Can the continents feel their own drift
And do they feel the Milkweed silks
That caress them with a ghost’s touch
But a touch nonetheless
Do the resinous Turpentine Pines
Recognize the refinery’s fumes
Or Freesia’s tantric scent
In their own tang
And audacious sociable Crow
What does he think of us
Does he laugh at our differences
Or cock his head and puzzle
Over his nagging sense of kinship
These clues of consonance whisper
Informing every thing
Of every other thing
Exchanging math for sense
Schemata for intuition
Form for function
And back again
One has only to listen
Because the conversation
Is endless
