“Some Words for the Week”

sometimes I think

that I have written all I can

about these valleys

and mountains

and rolling pointed forest trees

that stretch without end

meeting with tree line

and the white horizon

beyond that

sometimes I think

I’ll grow tired of nature poems

but then this morning

on the long drive to Denver

I move through tall grasses and

roadside bundles of sunflowers

three bucks hop a guardrail

in front of my car

and I enter the concrete

and the smog and the traffic

and the human sprawl doom

longing for the canyons

and all the life which blooms

between the creeks

and rocks and sage and sun

and I know there is no way

to end this work

of writing into the wild

of showcasing its beauty

of telling stories

about the fox pups

wrestling in my backyard

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