Poetry from David Baker

I received a nice note from Chile Pepper reader David Baker, who writes poetry with a southwestern theme. I asked him if I could share one of his poems here and he said yes! You can see this and other poems on this site, Canyon Lands & Borderlines.

Big River
by David Baker

Aspen leaves floating, each a golden coin, made treasury of the river.
Wet salt grass, leaf mold perfume her banks,
Oxidized shapes undulate in currents, beneath her silvered surface.

Never one to deny her Identity, She flows southward to a sad fate.
Her soul will twist with insults, she must endure.
Poisoned, made fat with waste.

But, here in the mountains of her birth, her fate is unknown.
She carrys a golden cloak on her back.
She is still free.

Mother Moon gazes fondly on her daughter's singing.
She sings to her mother, to ease her passage across the sky.
Full of joyous chants, and soft lullaby's.

I crossed the river called Rio Grande last night.
Her real name kept secret.
With a solitary note, an Owl marked my passage.