Leafy spurge, Fort Stand Off,
\nEuropean field pansy, Robber\u2019s Roost,
\nyou and the rotgut whiskey
\nthis place was spigot to. Now,
\neven the air has the shakes
\nas audible as the airbrakes of passing semis
\nslowing for the border.<\/p>\n
Of course, the Alberta Invasive Species Council
\nis pleased to announce its Baby\u2019s Breath
\nEradication Program. Of course,
\nbowing to a pressure both local and universal,
\nthe town changed its name to Fareham,
\nblinked, then changed it back again.<\/p>\n
Though not a raptor riding afternoon
\nupdrafts above the ravines where coyotes
\nvolley their screams through the bug
\nchawed air, I know the signs of decline.<\/p>\n
In the distance, the Milk (\u201can ideal river
\nfor an extended trip away from people\u201d)
\nwhite as a puddle of bone stumbles
\nback and forth across the line
\npatrolled by drones.<\/p>\n
Driving back through Medicine Hat,
\nin the hotel parking lot we\u2019ll find
\na crushed six pack,
\nan abdicated bottle of Crown Royal
\nand a plastic cup of cartridges spent
\nshooting down whatever dared to lift its head.
\nCareful. These too are signs to be read.<\/p>\n
Like the Vacancy neon that strafed
\nour room all night or the warnings
\nto contain Purple Loosestrife:
\nwhat was full is now empty or replaced
\nby something so foreign it can barely
\nbe named. Only residue remains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leafy spurge, Fort Stand Off, European field pansy, Robber\u2019s Roost, you and the rotgut whiskey this place was spigot to. Now, even the air has the shakes as audible as the airbrakes of passing semis slowing for the border. Of course, the Alberta Invasive Species Council is pleased to announce its Baby\u2019s Breath Eradication Program. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"10159,10311,9783,10361","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1924],"tags":[],"genre":[150],"publisher":[],"issue":[60],"poet-in-residence":[],"series":[3148],"topic":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10435"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=10435"},{"taxonomy":"publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publisher?post=10435"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=10435"},{"taxonomy":"poet-in-residence","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/poet-in-residence?post=10435"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=10435"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=10435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}