With Cooper at my side and snake stick in hand, I bid farewell to our settlement and turn into the prairie. My cadence is full of reluctant energy. On the trails, the four-inch brim of my straw hat shades brow and eyes from the low angle of the morning sun. Prairie winds rustle through dry grasses and lifeless skeletons of vegetation. A gust arouses Shakespeare’s ghost to whisper "O, woe is me, T'have seen what I have seen, see what I see!" The prairie simmers. The land appears devoid of life. Neighbors, radio, newspapers, and digital internet streams lament our once-in-a-century drought. Amidst the tribulations of the plains I find rejuvenating solace in the beauty of prairie flora. I find a treasure chest of jewels in the rough. I am reborn.
Behold the bronze burnish on slender throngs of Cota, the gleaming silver spires of sage, the joyous face of Devil’s Grass, the fangs of Prickly Pear Cacti, the sunburned skin of a lone yucca pod, the droopy games Stiff Greenthread plays, and the trust in an equine’s eye as he nuzzles closer and we become one...at peace, on the torrid plains of New Mexico.
© Ilija Lukić 2011
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Cota
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Silver Spires
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Devil's Grass
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Rattler Fangs
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Droopy Side Of Stiff Greenthread
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Red Yucca Pod
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Looking For Attention
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Trust
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