Neighbor

For Pam

Moved to New York from Texas in the 70s, I think

she’ll have some stories about the dancing it took

to wind up in this red rock river valley

and she won’t complain when she’s ankle deep in horse shit

and when she agrees to do a favor, she’ll say

“Come over we’ll talk about it,”

she’ll say

as she did on a blustery yellow autumn day

the whole canyon lit up gold, and cold

looking up at a rainbow over the rim

loud enough so all the neighbors could hear

“We live in a beautiful place!”