Here are a couple of pieces by Bonnie:

High up on this Oklahoma mountain

the wind rubs its February fingers

in my ears.

whistle / sing.

Even the trees here—

wind-warped and crouching against

the rocks for protection.

Time does not move—

cloud shadows sail soft,

like great playful ships

they roll in the silver tipped grass.

Breeze, gentler on the plains below

fondles the fur of wild Buffalo

(so far down from here—so small,

Balancing against the wind

I am queen of the golden mountain,

Empress,

Titan.

I will sail the shadow ships of clouds.

The breath of my lungs singing:

Magnificat! / Gloria!

I will drink the cold sky.

We have a breathtaking view of a big reservoir with pine covered hills in green, and purple Rocky mountains in the distance with still a little snow not sweated out by summer’s sun in the crevices. …

Sam is practicing his songs for the upcoming tour with Olivia Newton John, and every so often a curious chipmunk, brown grey with black racing stripes, will run up under his chair and then dart a few feet away and roll in the dirt. There are also very bold robins and some big bird with the size and shape of a kingfisher and the coloring of a blue jay.

The rarest animal we’ve seen so far was the black bear that was across the stream from our campsite in northern New Mexico. That was a very exciting night with no less than three huge thunderstorms—a leak in our tent ceiling and trying to sleep on a 30-degree incline. I managed a pretty decent meal of grilled corn and chicken before the storm started in though, and the view was really lovely. Still, nothing beats Colorado for scenery (apologies to other states) except maybe Hawaii. …

I haven’t camped out for more than 10 years and almost forgot how fun it was. I do have two questions: 1) Where do flies sleep after they’ve put in a hard day of buzzing around my head? And 2) What happens when it rains inside an active volcano?