Matins on the High Plains
~Quemado, New Mexico: Walter De Maria Lightning Field


Standing on parched Quemado earth on that half-moon, mid-autumnal night, we saw 
no bolts of lightning flash from steel pole to steel pole. Rather, witnessing Venus rising, 

dazzling, we, dazed by the desert’s thick night, gazed at the pitch-black perfection 
of a sky illumined by a thousand-thousand suns all framed in darkest, deepest velvet. 

Our eyes walked the Milky Way, a path of fine-spun angel hair, and read each constellation. 
But it was the fresh, cold morning that offered us an earth-bound wonder: 

for while we sentinelled the first streaks of dawn’s pink touch behind a chain 
of buttes, we saw the morning flash a brilliant light. In that instant, 

standing stunned in perfect silence, we heard from the west and from the east
the sharp, shrill, lightning-quick serenade of coyotes welcoming the day.

Lavender Dreams

If love is round, a melody of river, ocean, rain,
I love you more than soft wings and dazzling sunsets.
You whisper to me the secret of stars before we awaken.

In our garden are fully ripened tomatoes, brave snow peas & stalks
of string beans, milky okra on prickly stems the fuzzy texture of testicles, 
blackberry brambles, richest roses & sunflowers reaching for sky.

So sorry to come now with these empty hands,
my clumsy fingers trying, trying to button up emptiness
but promising to bring arms filled with thistle & lavender next time.

Listen! The earth is spinning round and round our solitude.
Let us look for secrets below this glass-bottomed boat.
Love is all we’ll ever need remember.

Darlene Logan spent most of her professional life in the humanities. She taught a broad assortment of English classes for thirty years in the Land of Enchantment at New Mexico Military Institute where she also sponsored an annual Shakespeare Festival and hosted many, many poets to read and workshop with cadet students. Retired a dozen years and now living on a pretty half acre in Lakehills with her partner Lad, she reads much, writes a little, engages in hearty discussions, and often entertains four grandsons and a multitude of friends and family