The Art of Tetman Callis

1.

the woman i was in love with that year stopped along the trail,
pointed up and said, my boyfriend and i call that one penis rock.

i looked. she and her boyfriend had a way with names,
but he wasn’t with us.

later, looking down from the rim,
all the rocks looked to me like penis rock.

2.

further along the trail, we stopped for lunch.

she sat in the dirt, eating by clumps of wildflowers,
her long legs drawn up.

she shared her meal,
leaving water and saltines for the local gods.

3.

the trail back down was littered with apache tears.

thousands of apaches crying for thousands of years.

(Copyright 2023 by Tetman Callis.)