Louise Mathias
—
Rangelands
The river curved
informed by something ancient.
A vital wound
drawn out between swept hills.
I could die out here tonight
owning nothing
but the knowledge that ravens will find me.
Doomed cattle out to the West.
Doomed in the hands of the occupant grasses.
But the sky all church again.
Lucky
Dusk in the rift-valley now, saffroning.
Wild horses
reduced to spindle skeletal trees—
The chestnut one barely an existence.
In the grimly lit adobe,
Amargosa
he holds me
like a storm-charm.
This is not
what I thought I would be.
Slip
Color of rabbitbrush. Palest
of unsung jonquils. Awoke
still warm in it. His ever
botanical touch.
Silk, so,
thank the spiders.
To be called to—
ornamental.
All the Arizona
grasslands.
His hands in it:
redundancy of nicotine and vice.
Louise Mathias is the author of three books of poems, including What if the Invader is Beautiful, forthcoming Fall 2024 from Four Way Books. She lives in Joshua Tree, California.
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