Lamentations From The Reno Airport

Hi everyone! Here's a poem I wrote on my way back to Seattle after Thanksgiving- hope you enjoy!

Lamentations from the Reno Airport

I long to be a cowboy

-but not like the men-

Paint me as a witch

untethered- pitched in the desert

The sierras are much too cold

For this young racehorse

I would never be tired again

If I lived between painted rocks

And spent mornings in the glory

Of Joshua Trees, scrubby and worn

Someday I will ride horses out there

Marry me in Monument Valley

With thin golden wedding bands

Something I can tie to the leather strap

On my hat so I don’t lose it when

I pick up rocks that stain my hands red

I’d never be anemic out there

Breathing in iron dust

And when my joints are simply too worn-

Bury me shallow enough

So I can still feel the heat

That bakes the earth around the cacti

Let me hear the pitter-patter

Of Gila Monsters creeping across rocks