Keith Wilson: Poet

Painting by Thomas E. Holland


KEITH WILSON, POET

Sir, we have registered your grave
in the valley of a small mesa scarping
on the other side of a grand river.

Of course, any water in a desert
is a grace, a blessing, and therefore, grand,
whether wadi or arroyo.

When I once visited a wadi,
I carried this image - you, driving at night
through the Sacremento Mountains;
you told me there was a wolf loping
through the trees, pacing your progress.

I fear that wolf drew you
to a land beyond a green land.

Some say it's a land of nada,
but I expect to see you walking
up a dry creekbed near Cloudcroft,
your tongue lolling.

- Gene Keller

Posted over on Bobby Byrd