Grand Canyon

Miraculously, there is light 

and rain in such perfect 

quantity that a rainbow

forms over the cavernous

craters, plateaued peaks

of the Grand Canyon. 

The Colorado River ate 

through the earth, patterns

now swirl down deep, 

red-orange, iron-rich. 

Like coral, but maybe not. 

Someone in the gift shop

keeps saying they love 

national parks so much! 

And I keep thinking, “God,

they have got to give this back.”

At the park’s exist, a small 

group stands: LAND BACK. 

It’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day 

but someone says “All land

is stolen land,” before clarifying, 

“Especially this one.”