Sage Creek

This bad land is good
enough for wild sage

brush to spread weed-like
about the creek

that weaves between
snarled juniper trees

with wiry wads
of copper bison fur

snagged on their boughs
like so many

breadcrumbs leading
to Sage Creek

in this bad and brittle land
not good for much

save sagebrush. If you’re lucky
you may happen upon one

at the end of the hoof-flat path:
a monarch of the plains

wading monstrously
in the middle of the creek

like some dark primordial
whirlpool guzzling water.

And he may lift his head
and murmur to you

through ebony eyes:
This water is mine.

By Cameron Brooks

Biography:

Cameron Brooks is a writer from South Dakota. He holds an M.A. from Princeton Theological Seminary and serves as Managing Editor for Vanora, an artist collaboration site. His poems have appeared in the Scurfpea Publishing Poetry Anthology, Fathom Magazine, and Eunoia Review (forthcoming). He lives and works in Sioux Falls.