Poems by Timothy Staley
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Leaving the Aldo Leopold Wilderness
by Timothy Staley
Tim lives along the Rio Grande where it cuts through the Mesilla Valley below the Organ Mountains deep in the Chihuahuan Desert.
After nine nimble days
in statuesque snow
I turn my dog and I
home. He splashes
on vivid red paws
across the Mimbres
and up the canyon.
I’m calmed by the
one-sided challenge of
the climb, with a sixty
pound pack I’m
floored by momentum.
From the mountain
I emerge again reset,
my strata of concerns
rolled back to tranquil.
If my truck had started
and lumbered us down
the forest road
High Lonesome Radio
could have come in
fuzzy at first, Christmas
a day away, bombs
going off in mosques,
and Condoleezza could say
something, but it doesn’t start
and we’re put to sleep
as snow darkens
the windshield.
© Timothy Staley