The deeply talented and ever inspiring, Robert Haas, read for us on our first night at Tomales Bay.
He is inspired by nature, the rhythms of words and seasons, the human heart and love. I'd like to share a few of his poems from his prize-winning collection, Time and Materials.
Enjoy!
Dragonflies Mating
The people who lived here before us
also loved these high mountain meadows on summer mornings.
They made their way up here in easy stages
when heat began to dry the valleys out,
following the berry harvest probably and the pine buds:
climbing and making camp and gathering,
then breaking camp and climbing and making camp and gathering.
A few miles a day. They sent out the children
to dig up bulbs of the mariposa lilies that they liked to roast
at night by the fire where they sat talking about how this year
was different from last year. Told stories,
knew where they were on earth from the names,
owl moon, bear moon, gooseberry moon.
