Near Monarch Pass, Gunnison County CO

Meditation: Monarch Mountain

Aspens white-barked, gold.
Winter is coming, early
snow on Monarch Pass.

Eastbound, New Year’s Eve ’09: whiteout.
Tractor-trailer, paint-scarred guardrail, thousand foot
drop:
     fear slicker than the road.

Stop along here, child.
Stone spine of America.
These hills are our bones.