Sunday, May 15, 2022

New Mexico Highways

You might not see a car on these roads,
Or a house, for an hour,
But there are always the signs
Warning a school bus stops here,
For it's a long haul
To unify the schools
From Corona to Ramon,
Eunicel to Jal, 
Datil to Old Horse Springs.

It's as if they chose this life,
Chose to live here
But nobody chose to live in Vaughn,
Ohkay Owingeh, Loving.
You have to go 14 miles
Up a dirt road 
In the general vicinity
Of the Earthship Biotecture 
To find someone who chooses
To live there,

In a stationary fleet 
Of school buses,
Shades in the windows,
Stove pipes on the roofs,
One of them calls itself
A General Store, with its wares
Written boldly on the side:
Lighters/T.P., gas cans, ice/ammo,
Petfood, frozen food, bottled water,
Candy/cokes, tobacco paper,

And, standing apart
From even this community 
Is the purple bus of Stan,
His 2 peaks lending library,
"Books" written where "school bus" should be,
Portable chairs for reading in the rear,
There is "science, art, fiction, poetry
And children's" and the door
Is open, the stacks visible
In windows from where children dream.
Here, perhaps, is the last place
You can still find it, information.