Star Lake is no
lake
it is a tarn
called Star Lake.
It is shaped
like a star
thus it is
Star Lake
(the tarn).
It straddles
a high ridge
it looks on
all of us;
when sun
glistens rock
along its fringe
or in its shallows
the light bounces
back up up up
to the cloud
and a reflection
of you and all
you do, and us
and all we do,
duly radiates on
the cloud’s belly
and is transmitted
for all to see.
This is why
a tarn named
Star Lake means
so much to me
and why it’s
the subject here
because it matters.
It matters to deer
lost on the foggy
top. It matters
to hawks for
bearing. It matters
to god because it
made it. It matters
to earth because
the tarn remains
and earth is good
at ruining useless
things. Thus, the
tarn is useful (I
have proven that
or illustrated that
point, at least). You
like ice? Come up
to the tarn it will
feed you endless
it will I swear. I
see that I swear
upon the name
of god the first
time in my life,
this is how serious
the ice’s there.

she asks what I carry,
it’s thistle

in each dewdrop
a cracked branch

I can’t say that I care
for her face’s gone a

shower of dust, a light

-starved exit sign, shards
of abandoned orphanage

about     a wall
is    its optimal
wallness            it

will inter       as
a forest                the eyes
of   summer animals