Conversation,                  Where’s the river?

overheard

                                               Beyond, wedging itself

                                                            further into red rock
                                               Skimming the crust

                                                            or surfing the horizon
                                               Soaking the silt-gifting walls
                                               Ducking from gulches, from

                                                            washes, from side canyons
                                   Oh—there’s the river
                                               A mirage of silver light,

                                                            parachuting down the waterway
                                               A spate of life, a pocket deluge

                                                            snaking along the desert floor
                                   No—where’s the river?
                                               Perhaps she’s gone under,

                                                            subterranean
                                               Perhaps she recreates the sipapu

                                                            foam flocking to surface
                                   What river?
                                               What river? 
                                               What mere lazy stream?

                                                            What choppy gush?
                                               What surge?

                                                            What rush?

                                                                      What soused gutter?
                                   The Colorado River
                                               Now clay-colored,

                                                            now brilliant jade
                                               Now glassy, now dirty milk
                                               Feeder of saltbush and pinyon

                                                            Slaker of yucca and juniper
                                               Exotic water of the west
                                   Oh—there’s the river
                                               Turbulent dream

                                                            Misfit stream
                                               Fissure aqua,

                                                            Rapture
                                   No, you can’t see the river
                                               Imagined sliver of raw silk

                                                            along rock
                                               Ghostwritten braid
                                   from here—the sign says so
                                               Your watchtower fails,

                                                            water prevails
Speaker                            Where’s the river?

                                                Oh—there’s the river
Speaker                            —No, wait, where’s the river?
                                   What river?
Speaker                            The Colorado River—

                                                Oh—there’s the river—
Speaker                            No, you can’t see the river

                                                from here—the sign says so