Quaint Cottage, Romona Youngquist, 12 X 12, Oil
ONE WAY ONE NIGHT
We were uncommon strangers
Continuing to meet after just meeting
I was afraid and you were terrified
But we stacked our briefcases in corners
And taught ourselves love and forgiveness
Eventually we were in over our heads
In our innocent version of human existence
In the middle of fetching coffee and bread
You brought me a few rounds of fluency
A language I had no trouble acquiring
You were an inexperienced angel
Believing things like making dinner
Would support us as we dreamed
Our continued existence flourished
Palomino cowboys herded cattle
Under cottonwood trees by dry rivers
One way one night with machetes
Looters with hollow voices arrived
In the great garden of our southwest
Tall churches protected peasants
Dark stones fell near the border
As we crossed to a new way of life
We knew we were peasants also
In a town of haunted dreams
An amusement park for drifters
______________
John Garmon