LPiA-23 Nov. 24

[Pike]

The Donner Party Mix

Both the captive and  the captor
are a little bit mad
sun and desert bite in that much harder

more likely to run into a rattlesnake
than a smile among the limestone and juniper

four months they’d fought that desert
left behind old Verecker to die alone

racing for the mountains, to beat the snows
that finally trapped them at the pass

a prison of snow and slow starvation
living underground, eating boiled leather 
torn from the roofs, unending cold

81 started the trip, 45 came out the next sprimg*
32 were children

their advice: “don’t take no cut-offs,
and hurry along as fast as you can.”

This reminded me of that old joke: two cannibals eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does this taste funny to you?" 
Anyway, cool poem, and I learnt something. 


*I think this might be a typo.