Expressions by the Rio Grande

A discovery while walking this morning

by the river, this side of cold.

Some stones recruited to carry a message.

Love

Peace

Be Happy!

By children, I thought. Who else would put that on a rock?

Who else would tuck all that on the ground with the rest,

back with the nameless stones

and the wood chips and the duck shit.

Kids, that’s who, they who don’t know what I know.

Each message an ember

in this place of gangs and theft

and sacred Pueblos

aloft with the rest,

the chupacabra and the homeless man

shot for no good reason by the cops.

A pile of rocks

near the acequia,

the weirs still open this side of cold

The geese back and the cranes,

their soft gurgling like contrails across the sky.

Who in their wisdom

would paint a rainbow on a rock

or a heart,

some juxtaposition of lines

to show there will always be a

child who knows better.

All photographs copyright of Victoria A. Kaharl, taken at Bachechi Open Space, Alameda, NM, Oct 18, 2017.

#childrenputmessagesonstones