a long drive
on a short winter day

land masses stayed
by bridge after bridge

the on ramps airy
and undulatory

and backlit
by a low blinding sun

the waterways also
meandering

but with less precision
a few straggling salmon

follow gradients from the bay
up into creeks

still swollen from rain
and redefining their banks

an eagle roosts
by the end of the freeway

in flight all these
bisecting paths

are rendered flat
as branches,

as cursive,
unintelligible tracts

for a being with no need,
no concept of fixed routes