FEATHERED LANCES AND MEXICAN HAT

FEATHERED LANCES AND MEXICAN HAT(L DOUGLAS ST OURS) FEATHERED LANCES AND MEXICAN HAT

On the side of a road
Sat a solitary squaw
behind a board
laid across two stones
head wrapped in a scarf
shoulders swaddled in a shawl
selling gemstones and beads
to shunpikers running low on gas.

On that road of red
stain in desolation
the infinite horizon
laid so low on a line
with mesas so distant
that the ochre gave way
to purple in the sun
turned smoky blue
far beyond a somber assembly
of feathered lances
thrust into the land
at an angle crooked to the earth
leaning south seeking the fickle rays
of a lost god with whom
I was in no mood for dickering.

I paid her a buck
to take her picture
before tearing off
down that lonely ribbon
that was my black narrow highway
chasing in turns dust devils
wild horses and a miner's stray burro
in my quest for the teetering rock
the locals called Mexican Hat.

by L DOUGLAS ST OURS
April 2010