The Heart of Colorado 

too perfect to leave
we book another joyride
through windswept canyon
no crowds choke here
to see daunting morphed-rock views
of painted cliff sides 
a slice of heaven
carved by river, rock, blue sky
hot springs and hot tubs
small town gifts await
behind jeeps, the off season
we become locals
Guinness chocolate cak
miner’s offer: hidden gems 
found buried in quartz 
night ends with moonrise
a ghost peeking over peaks
as full as my heart
   

               

unadvertised grunt

standing, waiting, buses, crowds

in national parks

yes, the view is grand

if streams of tourists wait

rather than push, shove

green river bottom 

whiny pine cone crunching walk

patience slowly comes

what will they recall

twenty years, many paths hence?

the waiting canyon?

or jubilant chants

away from home, friends, phones, games

(they make their own games)

it’s all a game, right

to see nature carve her art

humans: dumbfounded

   

        

Numbers

Who says that math has no emotion
that it is a logical, rational subject?
No one who really thinks
about what numbers mean,
like the ones I have tumbling
around in my mind today
on imaginary dice,
can say that math is void of feeling.

8 miles on my bike
with 2 little girls behind me
seems to make me so proud that
I want to write
but then I hear
38 million cut from our school district
as opposed to last week’s 35
1 furlough day coming our way

but nothing can compare to the number
500,000, which may seem small
next to 38 mil, but so large
when we hear it is lives lost
in 2 days, swallowed by the earth
in a country that is already
at the peak of poverty

When I add up my numbers it makes
38,500,011
and it is heavier
than any words in any other subject.