Intaglio

Shelley Armitage

June 24, 2022

Drought knows no boundaries

kochia weed and creosote hug both sides

what was—long ago—a photo op sign

now is a drive-by

NJ, IN, NM, OK, IL, HI, AK, and more

bumper to bumper on this highway 

connecting coast to coast.

Once a lark, its predecessor, Route 66, passed through Glenrio here

no glen, no river, straddling the NM/TX state lines.

The town had a bar and Little Juarez, a café,

a gas station on one side

(no state tax), a bar on the other,

(a wet county)--drought excepted.

Daddy, daddy, we begged, get the camera

Daddy, daddy, stop please!

Stair-steps, those photos, like the monument’s

rock foundation, weathering faded years, now gone.

We’d climbed aboard, embraced the granite icon

graced its stately shape with our odalisques

unaware that any Comanche had passed by

kochia and creosote collected 

weapons striking the speaking rock 

now replaced in forgettable green:

Welcome to Texas, Drive Friendly

The Texas Way.

Shelley Armitage is Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at El Paso. Author of nine award-winning books and numerous scholarly articles, she has held Fulbrights in Portugal, Poland, and Finland and taught in Eritrea and Hawai'i. She shares time between her hometown of Vega, where she manages the family farm, and Las Cruces, New Mexico.