Doug Roy, Two Trees, Cut Paper
Impression of Pueblo Bonito, 2025
Maybe she’s a hoarder, but she hoards interesting things
that are her stock in trade,
antiques often otherwise referred to as junk:
a chair with a portrait of a lion with a cigar in its mouth on the back,
gold dial telephone, mismatched chairs, old carpets,
a ceramic eighteenth century boot beer stein,
table lamps circa 1925 with shades of colored glass inlaid flowers
adorned with fringes of jet or crystal,
a torn scotch-taped yellowed copy of a book of
short stories by Truman Capote.
I coveted the impression stamped into a big sheet of sand-colored paper
of the layout of Pueblo Bonito framed under glass,
the impression so good I could single out Room 28
where archaeologists found cylindrical ceramic jars
with traces of cocoa imported from before there was a Mexico,
but no sign of damage from the 1941 fall of Threatening Rock.
Her brother bought the impression, like a big letterpress job,
in the gift shop there at the historical park.
When I visited her it was there all along
behind the rump-sprung comfy dull red chair
I was sitting in. I don’t remember any gift shop,
it was nine years ago. When she showed it to me,
I wanted to buy it from her,
but it was a family relic with a story behind it,
not for sale.
_____________
Bruce Parker