"Sky - seemed the most efficient and arrogant of words, one syllable for al that."
         -Stephen Dunn, Poet

I’ve been daydreaming of New Mexico all day . . .

I used to go there often before my daughter was born, sometimes on days like today, in the dead of winter.  I even had my own retreat, or sanctuary, there on a remote piece of land near Taos, New Mexico, west of the Rio Grande gorge, almost to Tres Piedres.  My retreat was a worn-out 1960s camping trailer without a title (probably stolen) that I picked up for 500 bucks from a guy in Newalla, Oklahoma.  I put a little work into the trailer and then I hauled it out there with my aging Subaru, barely making 50mph down the highway.  A 10 hour trip turned into 24, but I was patient and persistent, not to mention slightly obsessed, and made it.  I parked it on my land in the midst of a wide expanse of fragrant purple sage growing out of the soft powdery earth.  And in the distance . . . the most extraordinary view of blood red sunrises over Wheeler Peak and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.   

I used to go there alone to recuperate from my stress filled life in this mad world.  I’d ride my mountain bike along the Rio Grande River gorge, fly fish for trout in the crystal waters of Red River, chop plenty of firewood, and  sit for extended periods of time under the cosmic expanse of the illuminated milky way.      

But after my daughter was born I wasn’t able to get out there much, and little trailer was stolen.  It’s kind of funny because they stole my outhouse too.  And who would steal an outdoor toilet . . . a good, solid one made with 2x4s, heavy wood siding and roofing shingles?

Desperation perhaps.  Let them have it.  They needed those things more than me.  I will always have the memory of the brightest star filled night and this picture of my old humble trailer.