Basalt boulders pried from farmland
Shouldered by optimistic mid-century Kiwanis
Under a high desert sky
Stacked and cemented
An outsized barbecue
Centrepoint of a scorched-earth park
Tolerable only twice a year
During equinox
Otherwise
too hot
too cold
too windy
for any except
An Andean mummy
Grey wooden picnic tables splintering and brittle
Easy pickings for wasps
Cheerfully nesting under benches
Unyielding winds rattle picnic shelters
Sandblasted smooth as driftwood
Grass grips the dirt in frayed clumps
Hiding in cracks and divots
As heartier low-slung weeds advance
Picnickers huddle
Like pioneers in circled wagons
Stone paperweights securing every object
On the thorny tables
Waving off wasps
In fellowship