Past Mogollon River
the limestone ruins
scrape it with your finger
and the floor breaks
The talc
must have dusted
their dark
bodies as they squatted on these
floors grinding
mesquite and creosote
No one knows
where they went
from the cliffs
with their
earth jars and sandals
Or if they
cursed the
desert moon
as they wrapped
their dead
babies
in bright cloth
and jewels
2
Now cliff swallows
nest in the mud
where the Sinaqua
lived
until water ran out
High in these white cliffs
weaving yucca and cotton
How many nights did they listen
for cougar
as they pressed the wet
rust clay
into bowls
they walked
200 miles to trade in Phoenix
before it was time to leave
40 years
before Columbus
3
Noon in the
caves
it is summer the
children are sleeping
The women
listen to a story
one of them has heard
of an ocean
Deerflesh dries in the sun
they braid
willow stems
and don't look up
When she
is done
they are all
stoned on what could come
from such water
It is cool and dark
inside here
This was the place
4
The others
have gone to find
salt and red
stones for earrings
The children
climb down
To look for lizards
and nuts he
takes the girl he
wants
for the first time
Her blood cakes
on the white chalk
floor
Her thighs
will make a bracelet
in his head
5
Desert bees
fall thru the wind
over the pueblos
velvet ash and barberry
They still find
bodies
buried in the wall
a child's bones
wrapped in yucca leaves
and cotton
bats fly thru the
ruins now
scrape the charred
walls white
The people left
the debris of their lives here
arrows, dung
And were buried
with the bright
turquoise they loved
sometimes carved
into birds