Winter in Canyonlands
Arches Bookstore, Moab.
Amid sleek hardbacks,
worn secondhand,
pulpy softcovers and
thumbed magazines,
we drink Tao Teas,
finger Ugly Baby toys.
We’ve been up to Dead Horse Point
on the one day of mild precipitation,
Hey Jude on XM radio,
passing through wilderness
of too much red rock,
endless arroyos
smudged rouge in the rain.
Out of season with no-one,
two tourists still hustle,
bright-rustling in their
propylene ponchos.
Streets outside wide-empty
as south to north rim.
Helen Pizzey is Assistant Editor of regional arts and features magazine, PURBECK!, and also helps facilitate the Dorset Writers’ Network. Apart from publication in literary magazines and anthologies, her poetry has also been set for large-scale choral/orchestral works in Ireland.