DON'T FENCE ME IN

On the edge of town, here

on my stretch of Rt. 66,

the world is big, and empty.

It rolls south across the

Llano Estacado toward

the Palo Duro, a complication

of landscape where the Red River

meanders in one of it’s various

incarnations. The North Fork,

The Salt fork, The East Fork,

The Prairie Dog Town Fork.

From where I am standing,

the forty years of insignificant

rain has reduced the palette to

various shades of amber, brown

and slate green. The sky is empty

and the tricky plains with all its

hidden washes and ravines

harbor the coyote, deer and

antelope you know are there

without a trace. Even the cattle

seem to give your eye the slip,

scattered as they are over the

meager slips of grass.

Some rancher, though, has laid

hands on the wild world and

divided it all with a perfect line

of Devil’s Rope strung tight

on metal posts and disappearing

in the hazy distance because,

somehow, we have never learned

to leave well enough alone.

Reviews

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Like smart cities in the paddocks
The cattle are branded owned till their demise
Loved the write how about a pic pretty please
And there was a song called that title forgot the singer ?

[Vol]

Julie,
From what I read, they are growing meat in labs, now. If folks don't like GMO, I wonder what the reaction to that will be?

[Lorry]

I remember a time we could roam anywhere and were more free to go where we liked, until devil's rope came along. Now we are as cut off from freedom as the cattle are and all live in neatly parcelled squares with "No trespassing signs everywhere.
And as I sit here reminiscing over the days of freedom, I can't help but wonder if those cattle remember such freedoms that they have never known in their lifetimes and pass down the rose tinted tales of how it was so much better before being unsen, in an ever shrinking landscape.
And we have the cheek to think human and humanity are related, while we lump everything else "animals"
We should have learnt to leave well alone, but we didn't, did we?

[andrew mitchell]

Camouflage, blending into the colours of their surrounds all depict a lifeless landscape until one looks closer. I couldn’t quite help think about the movie Rango, silly as it seems but the imagery seems so similar.

[Vol]

Andrew,
Great movie, and yes... very much like that.
Vol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

it is interesting how landscape can hide animals, almost like it is protecting them.
Land and animal coexisting...I wish we would do that better.
This is a bit like reading "on the road" but a whole lot more interesting.

j.

[Vol]

Jacob!
It is indeed! In the forest is one thing, though, out here, where, as far mas the eye can see, there are no obstructions, the only places to hide are ravines, but they are invisible until you almost fall in...
Vol

[Ken Simm.]

I have a feel of opposites here in my mountains. Too much water probably sounds strange in your enviroment ....But the colours although different are just as vivid. Greens of all hues, slate greys and mountain blues are what I see from here as I write.
Does that mean I can appreciate your wonderful descriptions more clearly. I don't know but I too wish not to be fenced in with the devils rope that hangs at the moment with sheep fleece and highland cattle hair.

[Vol]

Thanks Ken. I always enjoy your remarks!
It is a matter of doing what the Navajo say..."Walk in beauty. Beauty above you, beauty below you, beauty all around you." Deeper than Zen, I think, and it is a learned skill. Like wisdom.

Vol

[Ken Simm.]

A climber I liked said Find Beauty an be Still. But to me there is no destination ever. It is all the journey. That is how we learn he said as a teacher.

[Vol]

Ken, It is a dream I have, to visit my roots in Scotland.

[Ken Simm.]

Let me know if you ever get over here. What part do you hail from? If I may ask?