EARL HARLAN

Chico


I wonder
where Chico lies
in the endless halls of mind,
I wonder
where within the stretching labyrinth
it might be found.

The sunlit streets in late March,
thousands returning from their travels,
muffled bass in the distance,
the familiar sounds of celebration
early in the day.

I can produce the thought,
revive its feeling, though only an echo,a cast of a footprint.
I wonder if that memory would be found
in fractal shelves, aisle upon aisle of them,
or in the permafrost of chasm's floor,
unthinkably far from the light, perhaps
in some region of void,
too far out to hold your breath long enough
to reach them.

I know what hangs on banners
in open galleries, I know
what is displayed in the central square,
in tiled plazas where many congregate.
But I wonder
what else has laid long hidden
in the depths, there beside the Chico spring,
or perhaps in places I couldn't yet imagine.

Earl Harlan is a folk poet and leftist activist from the Sierra Foothills. He writes protest poetry, philosophical/nature free verse, and essays.