I rafted down this river

To view picture: go to onemodelplace.com and put in 4484 under OMP ID # at the top, then click on “click here to view model,” then use your search function for “page, az” for picture of Jillian lying down on top of a rock outcrop facing away from camera. Or scroll down to see “Category: Fine art nude Title: Page, Az, 2006 8”

Note: a good rule for photographers is “don’t touch the model.” But a great photographer touches with his eyes everything he sees.

To Jillian

I have rafted down this river

Adrift, time pausing, circling, turning inward,

Eons of geologic strata on all sides

Igneous, metamorphic, granite, Vishnu schist, sandstone, lime

I can feel the warmth of her body against mine

It is so easy to forget the power of touch

Skin upon skin

I can feel the life span of a mountain within

Rising to the heights in a war cry

Then, as in a moment of time,

Turning to dust with a sigh

With the stars dancing in the sky

My hand on your hip:

I sink down into the ground

How many times have we been around?

Lifetimes lost, then found

My hand on your belly

I feel Spring awakening in the seeds of cedar

In the leaves of Cottonwood trees,

The ice melting, the water flowing

Nuclear fire toning down, pouring out its power

Into a spout, into an unfolding flower

My lips touch your neck

I feel the solar system circling

The earth, my silent goddess, whispering to me:

“You know my dreams.”

The canyon, the mountain, the river, the woman, the goddess—

They flow in and through each other—

To touch one is to touch the other.

I awaken from an abyss of silence,

At the touch of her body

I hear the stars singing.