Moonlight
Gemstones
QUETZAL
International
Beauty Salon
& Barber Shop
WE WERE IN BIG BEND
We were in Big Bend: stark clear signs of earth’s shifts all around us, in
the lines of the hills, those sloping mounds half-risen; and the stunning
desert palette, greens and greens and greens, rose, gold, cream, brown,
red dirt. Driving curving roads like dreams, the heat of the lower lands
pressing down on us in such contrast to the cold night before when we’d
turned and turned again toward each other in the tent on the hard
hard ground, seeking warmth. In the morning the yell of crows, so
close, woke me, calling in loud and strangely human voices. How large
these crows were in my mind. Black flapping creatures with wings bent
against the sky.
Mon - Sat • 10am to 6pm
Sunday by appointment
905-A W HWY 90 • Marfa
432.295.0025
Mon- Sat • 1 - 7 p.m.
Call for morning appointments
1001 W San Antonio St
Marfa
432.729.4526
moonlightgemstones.com
Over pomegranates and coffee, we basked in the morning’s heat,
stunned by the temperature pendulum, jeans rolled up, sweat rolling.
Driving again, the weight of sun makes us serene. We behold the colors.
Deep rose nopales appear around a bend at the side of the road like a
whole armload of bouquets for someone killed in a crash.
We come to the river, low and scarce, shadowed by the sheer wall of the
canyon. The sound of water wakens me in a way I haven’t been stirred
since I arrived in the desert. Strong in the narrow stream, rustling over
smooth stones, and widening, deepening, a sustained living rush. We
step through the stream, slipping on the clay, bending near to the shore
where the Rio Grande pours out from the mouth of the canyon and
shines between those high cliffs. The water moves cold and quick. He
walks straight out, sucking in his breath, and I remember the words of
a wise teacher: no matter how cold the water is, you just dive right in! Sand at
the edge clutches at my feet until I release the fear, dive under, am
swept along in the great current.
Alice’s Cafe
Mexican food & more
Open Mon - Sat • 6 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 5 - 8 p.m.
432.729.4188
After the river, we lie still and watch. Miraculous clouds appear, rain-
bowed and luminous, like insect wings over the cliff ’s edge. Mother-of-
pearl clouds. Lying quiet hand in hand. Witnessing the immensity of
beauty, becoming calm in its presence, because perhaps it isn’t possible
to maintain awe in its loudest incarnation for long. Becoming calm and
half-divine.
906 W San Antonio St • Marfa
Marathon Motel
& RV Park
Jessica Moore
Private Bath/Cable TV
Full Hookups/30 & 50 amp Pull-thrus
432.386.4241
21
HWY 90 W • Marathon • www.marathonmotel.com
Cenizo
First Quarter 2010