Look for a new post of Sunday Brunch every first Sunday. This column features Tripod Poems, poetic micro essays inspired by three randomly chosen words. These words become the title of the piece, are contained within the piece and are developed into observations on life in the Southwest and beyond.
Outpost – Merit – Grace
New Mexico is a state of distance,
an arrangement of outposts
from earlier centuries along historic
trade routes like the Santa Fe
and Butterfield Trails, and the
notorious Jornada del Muerto.
New Mexico’s history
is a testament to diversity.
Ancient and contemporary
pueblo dwellers, Apache
and Comanche horsemen,
Navajo nomadic herders,
Conquistador explorers,
over-zealous clergymen,
hopeful pioneer families,
and a smattering of famous
outlaws and gun slingers,
all risked life and limb
to come into this blending
of high desert and impressive mountain
terrains, decked in snow and conifers.
All managed to stay and make
their daily way on these isolated mesas.
Their daring solicits respect,
perhaps even the mettle
of those whose actions
were notoriously of dubious merit.
Despite desolate,
far-flung topographies
and desiccated arroyos,
Nuevo Mexico holds
its own brand of grace,
a buoyancy of pure light,
a furious firing of the imagination
that overwhelming vastness elicits,
a unique perspective on the divine
that four horizons stretching
into copious emptiness inspires.
