“Some Words for the Week”

Up before light

taking the curves

in thick pink air

the mountains snow studded

gorgeous gods of pine

and perfect still

after all these years here

waking at their feet

in the swelter and the storms

in such a soft glow

it’s like the first time again

my breath is stuttered

as the highway weaves

between these cathedrals

of clay and granite

and fox tracks and jagged edges

that seem to hold up the sky

and I am but a speck to them

like the spiders

in my kitchen are to me

and I look up at them with awe

in this dawn light

lucky to be beneath them

lucky to see the way the sun

sets its shine so gentle

over their peaks and ridges

Alexander Shalom Joseph is a writer from Gilpin County. He has two published books and one more forthcoming in the Fall of 2022. For more information and to subscribe to Alexander’s Newsletter go to alexandershalomjoseph.com