$40 a month for cowboys in the 1880’s
torn grass flower crumbs plastic driftwood cups
around the rodeo trash-can
before it’s put into a landfill

The early chapters of genesis without wood to put in piles
St. Thomas slowly dunked into Lake Mead
two years of blended destruction
waves of population leaving at different speeds

1930s iso 100, f/5.6, adjusted SP
ninety years of graphed drought
iso 200, f/16, SP 1/200

1936 rodeo workers’ association
small brown flies around the trash can
the horse eyes in my chair
with the Gulf of Mexico on fire
dim light of my phone screen
flickering orange and away from orange
the same as the waves in person the waves as pixels

a camera angled under the stems
on the screen a preview of the petals
mixed with shaped stars and trash


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