Check out this preview of my upcoming book! Watch this space for poetry from readers who have submitted their poems from Utah’s wild places.

Provo, Rock Canyon Trail (Asphalt)

We are walking the trail by inches,

identifying plants every few steps.

This is a type of milkvetch,

and this is a hybrid oak.

.

This is a terrible place to stop.

.

Not far from the scenic garbage can,

a short walk from the scenic bathroom,

a breathtaking span of historic

asphalt as far as the eye can see.

.

A ladybug crawls up and down

single blades of grass and it looks

like she is flying, doing a grid

search for her lost keys.

.

A grey-blue bird with a shawl

of darker grey feathers hops further

into the tree. Something adjacent

chirps and something behind buzzes.

.

My botanist companion calculates

the longitude and latitude

of this common sagebrush

and I, happily, calculate nothing.