Following is the second section of my poem “Colorado,” which I introduced yesterday. The Blood of Christ or Sangre de Cristo Mountains are in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. The range is either the beginning of the Rocky Mountains on the way north or the last stretch of the Rockies heading south. Some of the peaks rise 13,000 to 14,000 feet. The name derives from their reddish appearance at dawn and sundown at certain times of the year. —PM

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Colorado

2.

Along well-marked routes I found this stop

Facing the Blood of Christ Mountains,

Far shelf of white-and-dark cake

That I imagine might be seized

If only I lean out far enough

Into the expanse beyond the guard rail.

I’m here but not grounded—a fresh context,

Mid-continent, with only a map for proof.

There’s something moving out there—

The whole Earth is rolling.

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—Paul Marion (c) 2010