Inland Whales by Jeanine Stevens

There is no snow in the
mountains in summer. Rumi

He hasn’t seen the frozen streak
down Lake Tenaya,
or the deep gash creviced
in the white cross on Mt. Tallac.
He only knows deserts,
date palms and oasis stops.
That is why I’ve invited him
to the Sierras where he
will see coolest streams
run uphill and granite boulders
stand, stout as inland whales.
He can come with me
to twin lakes in desolation,
home of martin, fox and bear.
And when he returns
to Asia, he may or may not
choose to re-write his verse.

Jeanine Stevens has three Pushcart Nominations, and was the 2013 winner of The Macguffin Poet Hunt for her poem "New Delhi," judged by Philip Levine. Her work has appeared in Poet Lore, South Dakota Review, Valparaiso Poetry Journal and Ekphrasis. She is the author of "Sailing on Milkweed."