You drive east through Wyoming
Until the mountains yawn in fatigue
or you head south from Winnipeg
and again you are swallowed up
South Dakota opens its mouth
and you fit your head in
you can hear the crowd clapping
hoping the jaws won't ever snap shut
It is no use climbing the Black Hills,
for they are quicker than you are,
and can easily sprint out of sight.
Tourists, seeking the Badlands,
meet with a committee of hogs.
"We have swallowed the Badlands,"
the animals confess sadly.
No one is permitted near Mt. Rushmore at night.
The four faces talk to themselves,
and devise elaborate plans of escape.
The cave of the winds
contains a small mountain inside it
Once the secret is out,
the mountain will be eaten alive.
Slowly, and with infinite difficulty,
we are discovering ways to explain
why snapshots of the mountains and cliffs
are coming back blurred, looking like brain cells.