Anita Ouellette
On an Unfamiliar Path

I saw a mountain bluebird yesterday
as we approached a mesa just before
a hairpin uphill turn into the sky.

Before an icy wind received my breath
and blew it with approaching storms
I saw a mountain bluebird yesterday

after a dawn as cold as this upland crest
soaring so far above the desert floor
as morning turned uphill into the sky.

If all the blaze-marked trees have disappeared
the trails remain as ravens fly toward home
as mountain bluebirds fly in skies today

unfazed by new clouds bringing unknown weather
above the canyon views as dry winds soar
above the roads that turn into the sky.

Forget-me-nots hold tight to rocky clefts.
Murmuring hot springs solace wintry souls.
I saw a mountain bluebird yesterday
cross clouds and fly beneath our common sky.

<< return to the Table of Contents for New Series #6: Winter 2018, Volume 3 Number 2