La Perouse  I



in the wild squall of rain
putting on my sweater 
soaked like the peppered sand
between the massing sea
and the king's broken highway

I followed your hunched back
into the tangled kiawe
where I had hidden 
in a lava cleft
some profane things
so as not to offend
the goddess of the black fields:
my keys and my wallet
and some trash I'd picked
from the enclosure
with the trinity of rock
at the far end
which was the first place
I knew I was trembling
with holy paranoia
that we were entering
a place with eyes
and sacred presences
like on Haleakala
or the bluff at Ho'okipa

of course I was influenced
but I had become aware
of the delicate totality
of this cultivated wilderness
scatter of bleached coral
fish-teaming coves
awaiting the throw net
its smooth flat stones
moonlit guide through a'a
heiau rock walls 
toppled but little
old as Pele's last flow
a geologic blink 
in her flight from Hi'iaka
settling now in Kamoamoa
reclaiming her home
as she said she would
meeting the cool sea
in billows of pungent steam
as she must have here
when there were no gawkers
with theories and cameras
wallets and keys


							2



enthralled enough to fall
into her scalding arms 
and join atom to burning atom
with her molten essence
like a lover dying
in the last shudder of passion