RURAL COLORADO by Gerald Berns

Down the dirt rock road

made for horses, old tractors, skipping and singing children

and lost dogs

The home

Brown adobe walls caked for strength

where through winter-stained windows

gas and candlelight flicker

on barren walls

Black stove governs a corner

on the wood chip floor

Freezing in the morning

forty hurried steps through thick high grass 

to a graywood privy

On the road passing by

I can’t see anyone home

but I think they’re there

Inside I see a gray-striped cat

on the windowsill

looking out

wondering about me