Ridden Hard, Put Up Wet

Ridden Hard, Put Up Wet Worn down landscape Ridden hard and put up wet over eons of time. Buttes interspersed with ravines and wadis, Vast irregular symmetry. Clumps of purple blue green sage To have been seen by the riders of olden times. Clusters scattered randomly. A patchwork without design Covering endlessly to the horizon Intermingled with beef and horse. The buttes come in irregular waves of shapes and sizes. Conical breasts sprung up in ridges, Or sometimes alone at the sky line. Isolated flat tops Or long Capetown table mountains; African ant hill shapes, Crenulated with skirts of vertical old rivulet stripes. The overstory of bare hard scrabble thin land Draped to the side of the ravines Exposing the layers of understory limestone below. Sentinel wood line posts, strong with wire, guard the narrow highway That rolls with the landscape. Occasional cotton wood ribbons Crosses the roadway over the sign ‘Dry Run Creek’ which still remains dry until the rain comes. All this Served under the banner of blue sky Shredded with a mare’s tail wisp of clouds 7/13/2020