The Albuquerque Sky

by Eric Roy

If you had a dollar every time
a person found you unattractive,
you would be attractive. If we each
had a dime any time an outcome came
exactly as imagined, piggy banks
would disappear like hot air balloons

into the Albuquerque sky. Some red
flags flap violently from little poles.
Some red flags hang like fake roses
in vases thin & green, dusty blooms
so uniformly crimson we accept them
as part of the atmosphere.