Midnight Apple Canyon

by Kathy Watts

no moon the night
the flashlight died
by starlight alone
my eyes grope out
the shoulder of the road
climbing back into
Apple Canyon

so dark
the Milky Way
stretches out
over my head
holds hands
with both horizons

usually lost
in the city
out of my element
here too
held at bay
by the hoot of owls
ghosts of naked hunters
ten thousand eyes
overhead

until
out of some silly instinct
I reach up and pull down
the same starlight
inundating my head
of its own accord
baptism by starlight
makes the chaparraled hills
accept me
as just another pair of eyes
shining in the dark
look there's Jupiter
my luck changes

Copyright © 2005, Kathy Watts

Copyright © 1999, Lorenzo Comolli

Kathy Watts got a B.Sc. from the University of Maryland back when pulsars were being catalogued with LGM (Little Green Men) numbers. She writes speculative fiction of all stripes, mostly ghost stories and young adult novels, and shares a cabin in northern California with her husband and a ton of books, records, and computers. Her astrology column for writers (Heads Up!) is currently available only by email.