Naill & Blackwood
on a dog-day quest for fathers unknown
our Golden Eagle soaring along Route 66
attracting attention unwanted.
Disjointed memories
colliding with no rhyme
bypassed the Grand Canyon
nonstop through Navajo land
the Texas panhandle
far horizon country, pastcylindrical bales of gold spun
under a flaxen Oklahoma sun.
Aunt Opal in Carnegie
distant Kiowa powwow, that night
drumming a twister warning.
shelter in Anadarko
Gladys’ cellar fit all
telling lore of bygone family
history to help her belong.
not always right; not always wrong.
Onward to Arkansas
a diamond in the rough
through Cherokee hills
red dust & Ozark sweat.
Uncle Max on a tractor
his last summer tilling earth.
Dad, out back culling greens
only four summers more to reap.
No matter Nashville
detoured south to Broken Bow
undeterred by Choctaw thunderheads
sleuthed among soggy headstones
—none that Blackwood sought.
~text & photo by leh
