Warrior Poets

In a logged over meadow
looking down into the mouth
of the valley at dusk
it is quiet here
but for the sound
of the oncoming wind
in the stunt growth fir

the long crease
that Suicide Creek makes
toward the dim lights
on the Umpqua river
falls away into shadow

there is still red sky
to the west
where the sun parts again
the logger’s slash
far toward Coos Bay

they have left nothing here
but the names
and the brain like silence

Stephen Meadows
May 1 1988 Earth First!