Even the bent and busted can, if daring
And sufficiently stupidly reckless,
Grab a mini-odyssey, spontaneous small adventure
From the tight-lipped, iron grip of the edge. Strive,
Seek, not to yield, all that malarkey that somehow
Feels apt. Body pulled self together, or the other
Way around, and with a holiday fifty in the wallet
Drove daughter into the canyons for a lark. Wove
Through flashing shadows, sun on snow, ice
Running with water, road ribbon running
With tourists taking vacation pictures of each other
Against the envy-inducing backdrops of great beauty,
Crowding like sheep with cameras to get pics of bighorn sheep
Browsing near Checkerboard Mesa, one horned kid dashing
Spryly through the flock of people like an angel unawares,
One young woman clutching a tablet and literally dancing
With glee to be pictured with the real sheep. Nature. Miracle.
Bro-dude sledders wading hip-deep upslope to toboggan
Down Checkerboard Mesa itself. Giant tour bus disgorging
Hordes at the Thunderbird diner on the east turn-off.
Just us and a few pick-ups heading past Coral Pink Dunes
To Kanab, daughter demanding a chance to play the iPad,
Father demanding daughter help watch for deer and learn
To savor and absorb the view. Not everywhere has mountains.
Why? Where did their mountains go? We reached the sanctuary,
Said hello to a receptionist and a rescued fat lizard being taken
Out for some sun and a walk, then drove to the Bunny House
For our tour of the hutches, the lion-headed, the flop-eared,
The pink-eyed, the sable-furred, the friendly and the frightened.
One other family arrived for the tour, serendipitously including
A girl near my daughter's age, ready to play. A snowball fight,
A snow man, some climbing of ancient junipers while we waited,
Parents talking quietly, half-watching the new best friends,
Half happy to ignore them. Then into the rabbit warren
With the earnest young women who volunteered, the ones
Content to change alfalfa, clip rabbit nails, clean rabbit soil.
Save them all. The rabbits were rabbits, clearly sleek and well-fed.
The girls cooed over them, the floppy-eared and the two new
Rescues that were in a cage "bonding" the best. Before long,
The girls had bounded back outside and were running wild.
End of tour. Parental goodbyes, compliments to each child.
One last whim back at the entrance, a sudden turn to Arizona
Instead of back through Zion and home. Not yet. A stop
In the desert, at the sign by the side of the road for auto,
Beer, guns, and ammo. The last of the holiday fifty for gas,
Snacks, and a lottery ticket. O defiance! O hope, divine delusion!
Returning only then, the world visited, the world spited,
The world, or one small corner, navigated, composed
Now and composing this sort-of poem in the head, in the light,
The daughter in back defeating the bad wolf and the wicked witch.
The road rising and falling gently home, in good repair.
When it's almost all gone for good, but still enough,
Especially when it's almost all gone but still, for a little while
More, enough, it's enough. It's wonderful. It's enough.
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