CAROL BORZYSKOWSKI
Caught Unaware by Joan Baez

            "Well, I'll be damned'
twenty-five years dissolve
with her first liquid note
I am wrapped in memory
and transported back
to Colorado mountains
and life in the seventies

            "Here comes your ghost again"
out the window, dust and gravel
gullied water following continental
divide of red rocks and mud
to splash on trailers
real life view of the Rockies
not captured in post cards

            "But that's not unusual"
Your eyes, if I remember, were stone
washed gray, burnished hair always in them
always far looking, I never saw my reflection
even when my fist connected to your temple
desperate for your attention
or desperate to get out

            "It's just that the moon is full"
Now I reside safely in lower altitudes
wooded bluffs out my window clearly seen
green protection and buffers
against feeling too much while
allowing my definition of self to bloom
and enjoy perspective

            "And you happened to call...."