5 or 6 Miles Distant Rises a Gigantic Land Mass

The daytime moon brighter than smooth horses
in the field on Kit Carson

a mudbricked house basketed by thin limbs
of almost bare aspens one called weeping
that hung to the ground
the limb’s feathered yellow leaves
inviting rest
along a body’s length

we knew of cities in flames
in defense of fictions

near the great Saline cities of Aba, Qurai, Tabira
(the Grand Quivira where Indians built for the padres
A church of rose and tan like a rattlesnake)

words slipped side to side, lachrymatories, containers for tears

tenebrous, pitchdark

I cannot tell you what country this is
for I think it is not on the map
the general said