July 2021
Bio Note: New Mexico was my first home, though I have lived other places for most of my life. When I get a chance to visit, I take my camera to try and capture the scenes of my childhood that I took so much for granted. It is a beautiful state.
Click or tap photo to enlarge Photo credit: j.lewis
when i tell you up front
that i am new mexico born
then you should know my blood
is the color of stone
not just any stone, no
not black and lichened green like
those knife sharp,
hoof killing,
boot cutting boulders
in the malpais
not that color at all
not the dull gray of granite
that underlies the state
comes out to sun itself
in sandia and places south
my blood is not that color
never was, though i've been told
my heart is carved from it
by people who simply did not know
the color that runs in my veins
is the color that runs
in veins across the high desert
rust-red rocks rising high
sometimes in rounded rhythms
sometimes torn and tubulent
but always stark and steady
against the deep blue skies
this is the color of my blood
this is the color of home
©2021 j.lewis
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual.
It is very important. -JL