Maiden Rock / Permian Basin by Peter Mladinic

Maiden Rock

White clouds in a blue sky,

a two story wooden house on 

a hill

Saturday afternoon—

Are you offended by the 

clouds’ words,

their voices I’d quiet 

but high as they are they 

cannot hear?

Come back.  Tell me 

their names.

 

 

 

Permian Basin

 

I live in a basin.

There are no trees.

I look out at where earth meets sky.

 

No window to look out at a river.

I stay here, I don’t live here. I live

a mile from Ed’s Manor Tavern,

 

a stone throw from the lumberyard

on Madison and River, 

in a house by woods

 

and a river.  Lots of trees. 

This basin, my mother 

would think another world.

 

Peter Mladinic’s fifth book of poems,Voices from the Past, is due out in November 2023 from Better Than Starbucks Publications. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico, United States.