"Oooo" my mother exclaims
stretching her body over the drivers wheel to peer down the steep *****
That touches the highway edge

The ground lifts and ducks
like the incline of
a dragon's long tail

As if a creature the size of two cities
had found itself a resting place here- falling asleep civilizations ago
and as it slept, the grasses
crept their way over its scales

Small pulses of purple and white flowers scatter themselves among
the tall arching stems
of wheat and grass as we drive further. These are the culprits who draw my mother's turned gaze.

My eyes, however, sweep once more
from tail to peak of the sleeping
dragon mountain view
and I allow myself to imagine
the low hanging clouds are the result of
steam filled exhales.