Photo credit: desertsong via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Hopi Blankets

Road out of Carrizozo, in search of
white sands that play heady dissonance, a treble
the baritone of lava flows, pyroclastic
resonant, the somber face of a desert
smiling past long years, shadows descending
as pillowed clouds wander, lost sheep in the blue
a mirage of rain, a painted horse nibbles
dusty grass and pickled chile, a sudden summer afternoon
the gale of wide open, smoke hazing the horizon
like a Sinai pillar, the golden calf
long mined out silver town, a snaking rusty rail
kicks up dust and puffs of tumbleweed
sew themselves into tangled Hopi blankets.