Following
We had been following spring rivers traveling between little rooms with yellow lights and small refrigerators I had been assembling rivers of my own out of spare parts none of them water apples and lacewings antibodies on their way to a limited consciousness Evenings full of sleepers each room with tics of things settling the drifting weight of the others sighing Saying one thing meaning another Sleep with me Despite some uncomfortable reminders Exits and Emergency Escapes posted on the walls I followed my words like light from crushed rock Later I will tell her what I heard of the lost hikers found praying to whiteness in the high Cascades