Santa Fe, July 2014 by James Miller

Landscape of snowy trees — Photo by Fineas Anton on *Unsplash*

Mountain spruce

on upward slopes:

their pale under-blue

unwraps the clouds

in their slow round

of visiting.

We taste tracery

of strange soaps

on our skins. You

turn towards me,

awake again.

The unruly sun

and her thirsty birds

teach us their manner

of rejoicing.

James Miller is a native of Houston, though he has spent time in the American Midwest, Europe, China, South America and India. Recent publications include Cold Mountain Review, The Maine Review, Lunch Ticket, Gravel, Main Street Rag, and Juked.