Dirty old hacienda set up on the hill

in brown weeds and dust

dry country out here and sticks snap quick under foot

fires flare up and burn for miles.

leave long black scars like blood on the land

and two head of cattle stand shriveled and grazing in the front

chicken coops of fencepost

corrugated steel darkened at bottoms

from dirt and from rust

leans easterly by wind blown off the pacific

waters while a young cypress bends branches

near overhead