Another Poem About a Mountain

Another poem about a mountain
that wants to be about a Mexican 
fertilizing the lawn at a ski resort
at the foot of a mountain. 

Another poem about a mountain 
that wants to be about a Chicano
attending a holistic retreat
at a ski resort looking out a window
at a Mexican fertilizing the lawn
at the foot of a mountain. 

Another poem about a mountain
that wants to be about a boy 
who mows lawns with his father
then grows up to be a poet 
looking out a window 
at a Mexican fertilizing the lawn 
at the foot of a mountain. 
  
Another poem about a mountain 
that wants to be about a gardener 
mowing the lawn outside a hospital 
in Fresno, which, like this, sits 
between two rows of mountain, 
where the boy cried for his father
and his brother, the convicted felon 
with dog paws tattooed to his neck, 
hugged him for the very first time.

Credit

Copyright © 2019 Joseph Rios. Originally published in The Rumpus, 2019. Reprinted by permission of the author.