Verses Written Atop Raton Pass, NM

 Dying, driving through the dry and dusty desert

Smelling the stale sands coming though my car’s fans,

The blue Buick burning and turning timidly

Through the winding and wandering thoroughfare

As golden sands covered with greyish grasses graced my sides,

And flat plateaus rose on the horizon.

I was soaked in a sultry sweat roasting, in the midday sun

When the ochre reds around the road formed the Rockies.

Sapphire saplings surrounded the street

Standing on the snow-capped slopes

With vermillion mud lying beneath their limbs

Like leftover desolation daring the ascent,

The colors clashing like the opposing climes

And I slowly climbed and climbed until my car

Powered to the peak where I stopped to take in the scene

And freely breathe the desert mountain air

In a tranquil silence surrounded by storming semis.

***

(Raton Pass, NM -- March, 2016)

I wrote this poem on that very same road trip to the Grand Canyon. The task: write a poem that emphasizes sound. To understand this poem, you have to understand the state of my car. The motors for the windows had broken, so they were held in place with screws. Shortly after that, the sunroof had started leaking, which I repaired by covering the whole thing in duct tape. As I drove more and more miles, I noticed the car began to overheat. The easiest way to fix this was by turning on the heat. As a result, the entire time I drove through the desert, I was covered in sweat. Then, I started climbing the mountains working my way back up north, and I came across one of the most beautiful landscapes I had every seen where the mountains met the dessert. I pulled off the highway at the lookout point and immediately wrote my poem. Little did I know that my catalytic convert was due to crap out on me a few days later, leaving me stranded in Castle Rock, Colorado.