“Some Words for the Week”

I came silent into the world

at boulder county general

at the foot of the flatirons

breathed in sagebrush

and plains grass

with my first cries

and I was raised up here

between the aspens and pines

but in part also

I was raised by the sea

escaping the winter for awhile

down to south Florida

to white sands and royal palms

memorizing the names

of every bird, sea shell and tree

was the first school project

I cared about at all

and now grown

I live again in the woods

where the snow starts in fall

with the wind and woodsmoke

but part of my soul still lives

in the shell pile at low tide

down there past the lighthouse

barefoot in the green blue gulf

and today that part of me

is waterlogged and beat to hell

for that island where

I used to point out eagles

and fight seagulls

for my sandwiches

was hit straight on

by tidal waves

and other worldly winds

ten feet of water washed away the road

and the bridges

and the restaurant with the best

piña coladas and shrimp in town

someone on the news

called the destruction biblical

just like they did with the fires

that ravaged our valleys

burnt our mountain cabins

into ghosts of once homes

so another place I loved

is rubbed away with weather

made worse by greed

and eighty years of lies

and who knows when

I’ll walk the white sands again

finding bits of broken houses

where there were once conches

and today in the mountains

the leaves are changing

and parked cars line the road

people take pictures in fall coats

sip apple cider as if nothing

has ever been ruined

and for now

we have been spared

for now the sky is blue

and the wells are full

for now the air is fresh

and people smile

at the pretty colors

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