Phoenix leaving

Speaking of poetry... In colorado there's a Judge named Justice Greg Hobbs, who is an authority on water law. He's also published books of poems on water and nature and so on. He's a nice guy too.

Around the time that I started reading his work, I wrote the below, describing my experience of taking off in an airplane at sunset out of Phoenix, flying over the Salt/Verde River, the farmlands and city blocks and over some of their water supply reservoirs. Tom


Phoenix leaving
presses me into the seat
a small fire in an empty riverbed
lifts a lazy cursive plume
over postage stamp blocks
single cell vehicles
course through square veins
a cigarette tip sunset
reflects on a lake
behind a dam
waiting to exhale