Devil’s-Claw-Jemez-Dirt | Painting by Hosho McCreesh
Ponderosa, NM
A piercing wind lashes the snowy plain,
carves the jagged red crags of the Jemez.
I ride to Ponderosa, the frozen rain
stinging my mutilated face.
Tonight I will find a kind Indian woman
& I will beg for warm fry bread
covered in sugar & pears,
beg for a warm place
to sleep, to prepare…
Tomorrow, I’ll make Ponderosa,
& for what’s been taken from me,
I will kill every man, woman & child—
every one a pederast, a whore, a demonseed.
I will salt every garden, burn every church.
I will slaughter every herd, butcher every bloodline,
& I will deracinate every godless grave.
Only the wild raspberries will be spared.
They will call me monster, they will call me god.
Yes, I’ll ride my pale horse to Ponderosa &
tomorrow—bargain it back to stinking caliche,
to furious cinder & smoldering slate.
Yes, tomorrow we live again,
Yes, tomorrow we make this place
beautiful
once
more.