Each
surrounding peak slopes sharply upward
spilling black talus down its ribs
through fields of pale green prickly pear
clinging to the
mountainous terrain.
Occasionally, as in a rhythm, the hills cleft near
their precipice
and rise again in two discrete masses,
revealing remote canyons
unreachable but for birds and wild unknown animals.
Local rumors speak of
hidden prehistoric ecologies
harboring giant and tropical flora never seen by
human eyes,
of secret grottoes where sweetwater spills from split-rock faces
and tumbles into dark pools that lay in permanent shadow,
Of jaguar that hunt
there,
enormous cats somehow strayed off course on their journey from distant
southern regions,
drinking from remote, perennial water tanks, to
come down the mountain
only for the occasional range cow.
