
Literature and Art of Indiana University — Purdue University of Indianapolis: Volume 39, Issue 1. Cover Art: “Pete” by Benjamin Joseph Garza
Nevada Gray Matter
At once, capturing this range holds sway
over my senses—my preoccupation, so
I might (soaring above) transform the black-pined, snow-
sloped mountains. Stone vertebrae giving way
to the adobe dust of Nevada. Here (just West
of Vegas) Joshua Trees are scorched; their branches
torched as a methodic precaution; no chances,
hence the practice of controlled burns—lest
the precious flora be wiped away outright.
The fear emanates from, let’s say, the synaptic spark
of a lightning strike—the initiate lick to bark
transfigures the brittle boughs into dendrite
limbs; naïve trees now black capillaries spread
like rivulets of spilled ink against the red
rock backdrop. We too summon similar defenses—
pyromanic machinations to save or make sense
of our own memory remnants (if you can stand it). The man at
the helm sails over the canyon—announces our descent, while I
try to capture a synaptic scrap; gray fissures and folds of my
cortex twisting, turning into thirsty gullies, into granite.