I saw a wooden railroad trestle, nestled between two peaks of aspen, fir, juniper, pinon, and spruce. A three-legged coyote crossed a caliche road; a Brahma bull sauntered in his pen--his yellowed hump swayed with pride; some hapless (yet happy) hippies on a dirt bike took a spill. To my left, a forbidden missile silo remained well-hidden; a rocket sled launched; and an avenue of white, saucer-like radars scanned the sky. To my right, sat a squat adobe house with a thirty-foot antenna--surrounded by dead oaks. Out yonder were creosote, sagebrush, mesquite, cedar, yucca--farther West loomed saguaro and Joshua trees... Barbed wire fences, wonky for miles, and old cowboy boots upright on peeling posts, gave way to a road-runner on a tractor tire--on a sand bar--in an arroyo! Acres of ancient hoopy cars lined a ditch. Uphill and down were Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush; onward lay giant rolls of alfalfa and hay. Stone and log rest areas--CCC built--their cement picnic tables...with grackles and grasshoppers aplenty...flew on by. Plate-sized peanut patties, beef jerky, pickles, popcorn--Big Red and RC Cola--our road foods foraged by the smiling man behind the wheel who wisely sipped ice-cold water from an Igloos spigot. A teepee motor court and windmilled putting range stood side-by-side; I wondered why. Ahead, and behind, the white and yellow stripes crawled. Shimmering cities arose, then vanished in a glimmer--all atmospherics. In the air, the Doppler song of passing trucks...on the air, Spirit in the Sky. Enameled, shot-gunned signs from rusted chains creaked their lonely wind-songs... A cacophony of cicadas--like rattlers--welcomed sundown. Stars twinkled in a twilight sky; through raindrop splatters, neon streaked. Sulfuric refinery flares breathed like hissing dragons; snaking chemical trains slithered through the encroaching dusk--tanks rocked, brakes squealed... I saw, heard, and breathed in many things while riding in the back seat with my siblings. Through windows either rolled up or down, and in the drives by cooling nightfall--we each imagined even more. (Twila)
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 07:59:48 +0000
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