The Dead Mountains

Manchester Peak of The Dead Mountains

 

 Southern End of The Dead Mountains

 

Every night I watch in silence
as the sun turns
The Dead Mountains black

I think about the living
and I remember the dead

Sometimes I dream
of the Corona De Cristo trees
heavenly hued with purple flowers
in the heat of June

Sometimes I dream of elder desert tortoises
hole up near fragrant creosote brush

on the Colorado River

 

The Hualapai Mountain Range Kingman Arizona

 

 

Vista of Hualapai Mountain Range Kingman Arizona 



Oatman Arizona Route 66
 

 

Sometimes I dream about
birds of prey who rule
endless blue skies

as far as the eye can see

 

Oatman Arizona Route 66
A place to spread ashes of loved ones
 

 

Sometimes I dream

the dead are still living

and roaming this vast

seemingly barren desert with me

 

 

Maternal Uncle and Father 1968
 

 

me and baby brother in 2007
Lowlands of River Valley
Subsection of Sonoran Desert

 

Your birthday is near Father

you've been dead longer than you were alive

time flew from your hands

you could never gather enough of it

to keep life in your favor

 

I'll be thinking about you

after the sun sets

behind the Dead Mountains

and the stars begin to hover

high over head

 

I'll be thinking of the times

we crossed this desert

to the West Coast
 

or towards
the Indian Territory

of Oklahoma

 

coming

 *
going

 

It never mattered

as long as I

were with you

 

I miss you

I suspect

I always will