Long Cottonwood Poems

I.

Espy, distinguish divinely made lively, lovely Trees
Unisex Trees, inhales carbon dioxide, then breathes
out for us humans, life given clean oxygen
Stout roots run deep, holding God's earth
Also, with you we were taught our first lesson

II.

Animals take...

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Mitchell: Good sirs, my word was fair. No discrepancy stains the pages of my ledger. The fifth tier is a sub-basement beneath the cellar floor of the temple’s vestibule. Any woman who is not tagged...

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The Great Falls of the northern Plains is actually a chain of five seperate waterfalls
varying in height and majesty extending over 12 miles,
they also confirm that the right river was chosen,
we had hoped that the...

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Through April and May not a single Indian has been noticed
along all the serpentine bends of this rambunctious river,
however I feel we are being espied by a jealous warparty
immortal in it's protection of this pristine...

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Under a tall cottonwood tree that grows along the curb...
  two burly men stand next to a giant truck, and smoke one last cigarette...
          ...

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There’s this bison ranch in west Nebraska,
not all that far away from the Pine Ridge,
most of the time they make money off meat,
though when the weather gets colder than a fridge

they like to offer folks...

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Delta Dirt
                                 ...

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Orphaned Slab 
         by Odin Roark

They call me a foundation
once supporting siding and stone
wire
plumbing
shingles

Through the doors of my house
trailed family and friends
across kitchen floor
slanted slightly
letting Benny’s agate...

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Little adobe house on 160 acres
She grows flowers. I grow corn
Tomatoes, watermelon, etc.
Peace, love, hope, and joy
Grow themselves

Porch faces orange blazes
Draped over the rugged Mules
And a barn owl hoovers over
An old water tank with a...

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There’s a load of dust and sweat pulling my ole tired mussels 
           down
           These...

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She calls herself Bunny Boucher, but she was born Veronica Chermak. She’s tall and leggy with a body that looks tidy, yet lived in. She’s high and tight, but flexible like a strong rubber band...

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We've passed it by........so many times 
Along this twisted........ asphalt highway
A sign that's nailed,....... so crudely fashioned
       To peeling bark.......upon the yoke of gnarled, old cottonwood tree.
It marks a...

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He loved the stories his Grandpa would tell when he’d visit him on the reservation…his favorite story…the one he’d always ask for…was about the stars…and their creation.

“The stars form secretly in the Earth”, Grandpa would...

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When my identical twin sister and I were about nine, there was a little brooklet
in our backyard.  It started out kind of like a tiny stream of water in a marshy bit of grass...

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It is late morning, and a string of washing is waving on the line
Clothes look like colorful flags flapping in the wind.

I'm watching her, as she captures and pokes a stray wisp of grey hair,...

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In the dream that came 
in the deluge of fever
that plagued my
body last night,

I glimpsed what could be a future version of ourselves.

As if, perhaps, the heat from my brow
could briefly burn the cloudiness 
from...

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Life dawns like sunrise
Soft pinks and blues against the black from which it came
Sudden burst of light stretching fingers and toes
Receiving blankets of fluffy white
Soft breezes, from Mother Earth, kiss the cheeks of a new...

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My paper heart 
Flies like a bird 
And flutters like a butterfly 
When I feel my breath taken away.
It is weightless,
Gliding on air 
Along miniature music staves, 
Hop-hop-hopping to the notes 
In quarters, eighths, and...

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The Tale of Gallina Canyon, NM  

Red sandstone, sheer cliff monuments awaits the morning breeze, and high above the canyon floor an eagle sores with ease.

As shadows of the mountain cliffs retreat from the...

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Our riverbank launch at dawn
where dense forest chills the breeze,
where cottonwood leaves flutter like wings,
and weeping willow penumbras tease.

Glistening, rippling turquoise water churns.
Crystal swirling pools symphonic and aglow,
elliptic aluminum crafts coast over craggy stones, 
riverbed...

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I've passed it by, so many times before
While traveling this twisted asphalt highway
That weathered sign, nailed, so crudely fashioned
To peeling bark, upon the yoke 
Of one ancient, gnarled and battered cottonwood tree 

It marks a...

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We loaded up for a Sunday drive
The Ozark Mountains were alive
Wild dogwoods of pink and white
Every shade of green in sight
Blooming jonquils and daffodils
Woodpeckers, blue jays, and whippoorwills
Even though the painting was unfinished
Nature's bounty was...

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I heard the wind blowing briskly through the cottonwood trees,
And it sounded as though it were calling, calling to me.
So sad and so lonesome the sound that it makes,
Like a soul wandering aimless by the...

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Charley my wheel horse says that Jim is a yack, always jawing now.
They are both scrunchers, they nearly swallow their teeth on chow.
Jim is unsalted, but not lazy or slow, although he has trail dust...

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Now this is quiet a famous little stream, many untold story
The muddy waters run slow, but don't let it fool you when it comes alive
Divides the United States and Mexico, but it is just a...

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