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Volume 3 Number 2 • Fall 2011

Erica Olsen

Off Road: Jeep Excursions
A Report to the Forest Service
San Juan National Forest, Colorado

Off Road: Jeep Excursions

1
The slow plow through deep sand in low-range four-wheel drive.
Nothing like TV.

2
Two men in camouflage hoist automatic rifles
as ridge-glow fades, Venus appears.

3
Kayenta, Entrada, Wingate, Cedar Mesa.
Just "sandstone" won't do.

4
Ten feet ahead of us in butterfly arcs,
a swallow rides the quick air.

5
At the end of the day, closing the Butler Wash gate:
We—and town—this way.

A Report to the Forest Service
San Juan National Forest, Colorado

I didn't write any poems today.

It was too beautiful.

We ate bacon and eggs. Drove to Gold Run. Hiked Bear Creek.

Erica Olsen lives in southwest Colorado. Her writing has appeared in High Country News and ZYZZYVA.

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