Sky River 1/8/23

my mother feared her redwoods would fall on her home

strange, anyway, to have redwoods in the valley

accustomed to delta breezes, stranger to sky river

in the end it was the measly aspen that snapped in half

the night she urged to sleep in the east facing room.

in the end, another two weeks of rain was forecast,

more elder oaks and cypress trees fell from the 

soaking soils, the roots without anything to cling to

in the end, my mother feared her redwoods would fall 

on our home, she slept east facing, the moon filled,

mercury spun backwards, or so we thought, the swans

floated in the wetlands, the waters rose, the roads

flooded, and for the first time since my child dreaming,

California gulped down the sky river.