Another Poem

Here's another in the same theme: travel poems in America.

*

in utah

in utah the mountains were
more than I expected,
walking out of our dingy hotel room
I stopped short

it had been too dark to see
when we rolled in
the night before

but in the morning there they were
they sat facing me in
salt lake city, fat and content
more temple than any temple

the wide expanse settled outside
our room full of smoky ghosts
the rickety brick walls, cracked
white paint on slow steps

our sleepy faces wakened
white steamed bathroom
windows thrown open, and then
that view
taking our breath whistling up
to snowy morning peaks. just one
of those surprises like
the small leaves creeping

out of rickety brick
when we left with our bags
and drove out of salt lake city