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mountain bluebirds hunt
old lizard signals in the cliffs
hicktown boys drink bull musk
scattered in the lacegrass    refuge closes
at dark     rangers & ghosts make no exceptions
people fall     people jump     a canyon wren
drops its laugh down the valley    a silver spilling
as an outlaw     dies this place can’t leave itself
this place isn’t alone     dickcissel on bobwire turns
its head becomes instagram famous     no alcohol
no swimming: ontology prints meaning
geology exorcises bone      60 acres free from drivethrus gas
stations housing or power a fawn walks a dry lake bottom
forgets its mother

    2

                a red eared
        slider blinded
by can crush

a rattlesnake filling
        a hiker’s feet with sick
whipped blood

                a nuthatch
        laughing at the
joke in its name

a prairie dog
        poisoned by pellets in
                its ground home

                a black bear cub’s grainy image
        on a diorama backdrop