— for Duncan McNaughton

by James Koller

Morning Star over the Uintas, red sun
coming up behind those mountains.
We missed
seeing you in Bolinas.  Did you come
out?
I’m here this morning, west of Salt Lake,
call them drowsy, drivers, cars all over
this road.
Carla Bruni sings lullabies,
soothes the cat, who like me, this time of day
likes it quiet.
The city now thirty
miles ahead.
The sun drops, down again,
out of sight.  Now you see her, now you don’t.
Are we all asleep now?  Not me.
Mountains
to the south are mirrored, pastel & pink
reflections in the still salt water, look,
to me, the color of Carla’s nightgown.