Sky so big it needs the whole earth
to lie down on. Paper said chance of rain
today and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
but thin high clouds say not likely, not
today. River is out of sight,
but it has broken flat
into high mesas and deep arroyos
trailing down down to where you
would think water would be. A field of maize is
green in the middle of ocher that shades
from white through the color of alfalfa flowers
to brown as brown as earth and gold
as gold as wheat at harvest time.
Mennonite Church on the edge of Perryton
reminds me the opposite of a war story
is an epic about farming.

Conversation where I stop is Texas
Tech football, sounds like something
a zen master might say: Tech is better than
people think. They haven’t played
nobody but they’ve beat three nobodies
convincingly. A word or two about
growing up here, then the conversation turns
to banks. Guy at the table says
he’s thinking about buying another one.

Owner of the coffee shop in Dodge City
offers me a fly swatter, talks about the oil boom
when I ask where all the traffic on
Wyatt Earp Boulevard is headed. I say
hope that works out. The problem with booms
is bust and he goes off on football players
salaries, says it’s all about managing money,
and I wonder what would be the epic opposite that.