2008 Writing D e s e r t E x p o s u r e 
September
2008
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Lordsburg Cemetery
By Sharon Barr
the desert winds from Chihuahua
have blown plastic flowers and hollow madonnas
against the chain-link fence
where they vibrate in the wind
looking like flamboyant prisoners of war
trying to scale the wall to make their getaway
this is a poor man's cemetery:
grave markers are made from industrial materials
(perhaps appropriated from the mines)
crosses welded from pipe now rusted almost through
painted names and dates long since sand-blasted off
descanse en paz remains
a father's name hand-scribed by his son
on a home-poured concrete slab
cracked in half
weathered grey wood headstones
some with names carved with a pocket knife
lean almost flat
worn by wind and water
the ridges of fiber hardly holding together
But a few brand-new marble monuments
stand proud
thinking they will fare better
Sharon Barr says she considers Desert Exposure partially responsible for getting her "off my rear end" and moving from Alamogordo to Silver City.