---
title: 'Mountain'
project: 'Elegies for Alternate Selves'
...

The other side of this mountain \
is not the mountain. This side \
is honey-golden, sticky-sweet, \
full of phone conversations with mother. \
The other side is a bell, \
ringing in the church-steeple \
the day mother died.

The other side of the mountain \
is not a mountain. It is a dark \
valley crossed by a river. \
There is a ferry at the bottom.

This mountain is not a mountain. \
I walked to the top, but it turned \
and was only a shelf halfway up. \
I felt like an unused Bible \
sitting on a dusty pew.

A hawk soars over the mountain. \
She is looking for home.