from Ellwood City (in western Pennsylvania) \u00a0to Cupertino, California.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In the weeks that followed, I returned to my pages of notes from the trip. I turned them into poems. My notes from driving across NEVADA became the inspiration for \u00a0the images in this poem: “Shelter From the Wind.”<\/p>\n This poem was published this week in “Magnets and Ladders Literary Magazine.”<\/strong><\/em> It had preciously been published in another literary magazine:<\/p>\n YAWP Magazine for Literature and Arts<\/strong><\/em>, ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shelter from the Wind \u201cWelcome to Nevada\u201d<\/strong> <\/em>flashing lights and casinos Trees and grass, water aplenty in the Oasis. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Winter winds blow frigid in this valley<\/p>\n bringing weighted clouds of ice to the Oasis.<\/p>\n Winter storms howl and moan around the casinos,<\/p>\n sweeping down across the barren mountains,<\/p>\n removing purple from the tumbleweed<\/p>\n and lifting it\u2019s hollow bones to the icy wind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The casinos are a shelter from the wind. <\/p>\n Truckers never see the tumbleweed. Seasons change slowly in the Nevada mountains, <\/p>\n Published: Magnets and Ladders, Literary Magazine, <\/p>\n Lynda Lambert is the author of: \u00a0“Concerti: Psalms for the Pilgrimage,” published by Kota’ Press. \u00a0You can contact the author for an autographed \u00a0copy of this book,<\/strong> or visit www.amazon.com\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0to purchase the book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nSummer, 2001, #3 \u2013 Pittsburgh, PA<\/p>\n![\"Poem_Photo_NevadaCasino\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Poem_Photo_NevadaCasino.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nby Lynda McKinney Lambert; 1991<\/p>\n
\ngrope together at the base of violet shrouded mountains
\nWalk in fields of fragrant sage and purple tumbleweed
\nStacked in fluffy clumps against fences, by the wind.
\nLook across this fertile plain of the valley.
\nWatch the long train moving east to an Oasis.<\/p>\n
\nA single gas pump, a shiny slot machine in this lonely casino.
\nBehind violet shadows on taupe-blue mountains.
\nReach down to touch the prickly tumbleweed
\nthat blooms before the winter winds
\nsweep through the Nevada Oasis valley.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nTourists stay, trying to win in this frigid Nevada valley
\ndrawn here like thirsty men to an Oasis
\nseeking water and wealth from the casinos
\nwhen the wind blows sharp in the mountains.
\nThe only thing moving is the tumbleweed.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThey mark time like notches on a gun through driving Nevada winds
\nignoring the signs posted in the valley,
\ndesiring to reach warm arms in the Oasis
\nor painted lips and blinking lights in the casinos-
\ntrying to delay the next trip over the mountains.<\/p>\n
\nleaving behind memories like frail tumbleweed.
\nDreams pass as fragments in a winter-wind,
\nand tumbleweed blowing in the valley
\nas surely as a man travels, looking for an Oasis
\nand a sure bet in the Silver State casinos.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nYAWP Magazine for Literature and Arts,
\nSummer, 2001, #3 \u2013 Pittsburgh, PA<\/p>\n
\nFall\/Winter 2014<\/p>\n