To Jennifer: Response to Highway 40, N.M.
by Mary Ann Halteman Conrad, Flagstaff and Ft. Defiance, Ariz.
You should have taken the rez road, sister,
Up through Leupp and Dilcon,
The Painted Desert, barren, yes!
It might sand blast you on a windy day,
Or throw you a full 180 degree rainbow
Late Sunday afternoon,
Driving beneath that glorious arch,
Sky anything but blank,
rolling psalms,
yeah prophet warnings,
And somewhere between Upper and Lower Greasewood,
Cresting the breast of a dry hill,
You would see a cow, maybe two,
A herd, in fact,
Munching sustenance from coarse roadside vegetation,
Not milk she gives, but meat ...
White man’s gift to the lactose intolerant.
I hit one once, a thud to shake the soul.
No damage done!
She plunged thunderously into the dark desert.
While I, trembling,
journeyed on
Pondering the impact
Of Gospel Tract.
Editor's note: This poem is a response to the Oct. 6 poem "Highway 40, New Mexico" by Jennifer Halteman Schrock. The two women are sisters.
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