earth note 497

ouray colorado
touching the land circa 1979...2016

between the years

and many decades prior
the uncompahgre river
tried but failed to vomit & flush away
the heavy metals
the murky orange
legacy european settler poison
growing out of
and still leaching
from the mines

the horses smell it and

know better
than to drink from it

before the plunder

chief ouray and the original people
fished   hunted   farmed   protected
at least 23 million acres
every river now
weeping
from their absence

by next election

the buck will get passed
again

--- e b bortz