Wray, Colorado, 1972




Coming into Town

 

Sage and prairie grass covered hills, washed-out gullies,

Arrow-straight roads, a high-desert tableau, 

A panorama so vast that rust-still windmills, loafing cattle,

Entire farms, even towns, become incidental. 

 

Corrugated grain bins, new, as in NASA new,

Squat rockets, sunlit, galvanized, pristine, brilliant,

Startling against a clear-air, blue sky, shimmering horizon.

 

Rail cars on a siding, a weather-worn feed & supply store, 

A faded grain truck parked in the sharp shadow

Of a loading dock, a cowboy stepping from the cool of a cafe,

Squinting in the noonday sun, Gary Cooper style.

 

Dust hanging in still air after a pot of bawling calves

Barrels down the road. Hanging in the air

Long after the sound and sight of the big rig is gone.

 

 

 





Poetry by jim The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 1162 times
star mini Editors' choice
Written on 2019-02-27 at 15:13

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Editorial Team The PoetBay support member heart!
This text has been chosen to be featured on the home page of PoetBay. Thank you for posting it on our poetry website!
2019-03-06


Kathy Lockhart
Real-life, fine tuned, portrayal. Did I just watch this movie? I tasted the dust. I must have been there. Wow!

BTW I love Gary Cooper. :)
2019-03-05



I see it all as a picture of something that was and iis, but it will soon not be. So beautifully described. The picture stays in my mind.
Ashe
2019-02-28


Jamsbo Rockda The PoetBay support member heart!
A wonderful picture. I love the slight staccato delivery, and the Gary Cooper reference. Though I liked Randolph Scott and Audie Murphy a bit more because their movies were mostly in colour.
2019-02-28


Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Great job, Jim. The stark lines perfectly match the landscape. (I've been to Wray.)
2019-02-27


Bibek The PoetBay support member heart!
Quite picturesque. Vivid details. Portrays your part of the world.
2019-02-27