mirage (revisited)

[mnaz]

black rock country sits low
bleak and dry, mountains beaten down
scarred chocolate ridges, wondrous mounds
rim the playa, the blinding ocean

it fills with winter sheen but rarely a shower
rain drifts from from billowed bellies in vain
white streaks turned away, phantom shrouds
when rain comes it is clumsy, impetuous
root for a rebel, root for a cloud
yet they run a few cows
picture her on a cloud
root for a stray

on the playa, blinding span
small rocks the size of boulders
can’t tell the size of anything
the shore is naked and burnt
belly up to the black heavens
the corridors are too long
prospects remote
air too thin

bleak cattle country and peace
sage perfume on the high plateau
where ridges can't thwart every storm
backlit amber and malevolent sky
blackened rim over the battlefield
it comes quickly, cover your head

deep blue on the playa
stubbornly recedes to white
a truck makes dust on the flat
slender plume from a black dot
no, it is a dust devil
from beyond a rock

[dadio]

quite a well captured poem. love it.

[mnaz]

thanks terry. once again, light and space (and warmth) are where my head is at. man it's been a godawful long winter.

this one is from 2009, but worked over and pared down. i like it better now.

[saw]

I love the expanse of this, which is the magic of the wide open west....something happens when buildings are not blocking your view....when one can see the horizon outlined in the pastels and sharp edges , a reminder to me of what the earth was like before man began to build......big sky country.....the painted desert, the badlands........another planet........thanx for these Edward Abbey-like paintings

[mnaz]

glad the wide-angle essence of the place came through, steve. yes, the horizon, what an undervalued commodity... the big, bright re-set button. thanks!