The Queerest Thing about Aspen

is what you hear the ranger say.
Your sneakers trace the snapped-grass
halos of his, a single braid laid 
like wet bread in 
the soft dough of his 
shoulders:
               They are actually one 	
               large system beneath the soil. Hidden      
               but not. 

What a beautiful way of saying 		
he knows. Or also
Is. Bundled in the soft 
safety of eyes-to-ridgeline lecture. Pinky 
finger horizon point. Warm wind 
gravel country. How gentle to say it 
without: 
               They survive.
You nod. 
               They send moisture
               over hundreds of secret acres. 

You smile at the internet 
of it all: lives linked 
in silence. Stubble glint lip 
crack. Calf grin needle crunch.
               It’s why they are the first spurt of green 
               after a fire. Can’t kill ‘em. Even 
               when you do. 		

& by now, it does not matter 
you’ve misheard him—he said coolest 
instead of queerest, repeated 
several times now—because 
you’ve already 
said enough by saying 
nothing. Or rather, done 
what you do: Reach 
without reaching. Water a life 
               dormant for the right conditions

until it grows.

---

Dr. Adam Falkner is a poet, performer & educator. He is the author of The Willies (Winner of the 2020 Midwestern Independent Book Award), and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Rumpus, The Guardian, Painted Bride Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, on PBS Newshour, and elsewhere. He holds a PhD in English & Education from Columbia University, and lives in Brooklyn.