Roadrunner

 

Photo © Jennifer Wagner

Last night I dreamt about scorpions,

my ex,

a diner,

and a dingy motel.

 

And being on the run.

 

I sipped mediocre coffee,

slipped into my best jeans, tight as a tattoo,

bundled up my few belongings

and hit the road—

 

blue-legged and quick.

 

There I was cooing,

belly full of scorpion meat,

picking up the sun, shotgun,

for a lift,

 

—the pair of us,

wily coyotes with a (sometimes) bad rap, but

thriving,

like O’Keeffe,

escaping into the southwestern

desert heat.

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

Today over at NaPoWriMo (Day 2), the work of Georgia O’Keeffe is mentioned along with an optional prompt.  I recently read Roxana Robinson’s biography of O’Keeffe which was excellent—I highly recommend it.  Many know O’Keeffe moved to the Santa Fe area where she created some of her most iconic work, and since I’m also a transplant to the southwest (Arizona), this poem is where the muse lead.  Also, I did actually have this dream last night.

I recently visited the fabulous Ted DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun Museum in Tucson.  I took the above mediocre photo there.   

Roadrunners don’t actually have blue legs (more gray/brown), but they do eat scorpions.

 

What’s Going On? (Open Link)

PAD Day 2 (loosely for "from where I'm sitting")