Dune Buggy Ride

Six open bench seats
although no one else sits with the driver

big wheels, raw but brightly painted metal
you feel as much as hear the engine's voice
rum, rum, RUMMMMM

and off we go down a two track sand path
through beech, hemlock, poplar and cherry
round a tight walled sandy curve then higher
turning right then left then down with arms high
sand making it's way into our mouths as we laugh

we work our way to the top of a mountain of sand
which overlooks Goshorn Lake, once twice it's size

winds began to fill it in at seven feet per year
until grasses planted on the dunes by University students
started taming a growing beast, who once set free
by the lumberjacks to rebuild Chicago after it's fire, buried
the bustling town of Singapore in only five years

from here we overlook seven hundred rolling acres
and should see on a clear day Lake Michigan to the West
with blue waters out for twenty-eight miles
but today a haze just off shore blocks our view

shade for us now is a clump of eight cottonwood trees
which ii is actually actually only one
it's base buried by hundreds of feet of fine white
each extension created new roots, now exposed

there is a dead branch with a round woodpecker hole
home to a mother finch feeding her babies
and not so happy that we are parked below

a turkey buzzard floats above in the stiff breeze
waiting for some small rodent or snake to make a mistake

memories are framed on the hot sand then we find our places
trekking wildly down into a hidden woods ten degrees cooler
then back to a shop that sells ice cream, post cards
and shows displays of lightening fried sand