Rodney Nelson

Back to Issue 8

There and Here

why would I seek out the tangibility
of one rock place with vegetation only
in the folds
        that does not have to be canyon
                      a mere arroyo in such country
will do
or even a hidden backyard xeriscape
 
I would because I am at an age to need
the touch and sight and odor of dry plateau
        as at another
I’ll go up north in search
of waiting prairie
                      weather to its music
in a ditch or backyard of redolent snow

Table in the Jack Pine

a pullout off the quiet northern road
the only marker
        no room for parking
but one could tie a donkey anywhere
and a short walk in
                      a wooden table
to seat the twelve and one in the middle
 
no pit or grill or spigot so hand food
would have to be carried on
        with water
and wine in skins
                      and a last supper here
would be a picnic for twelve and the one
and later the flies and chipmunks and jays
 

Rodney Nelson's work began appearing in mainstream journals long ago; but he turned to fiction and did not write a poem for twenty-two years, restarting in the 2000s. See his page in the Poets & Writers directory 
http://www.pw.org/content/rodney_nelson 
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He has worked as a copy editor in the Southwest and now lives in his native Fargo. Recently published chapbook and book titles are Metacowboy, Mogollon Picnic, Hill of Better Sleep, Felton Prairie, In Wait, Cross Point Road, Late & Later, and The Western Wide.