This piece was first published in Quarto’s 2019 Spring Print Edition.
Illustration by Mita Sharma
Every baby born in the United States
is dreaming of a national park
is dreaming of 60 officially designated national parks
administered by the National Park Service
is dreaming of their baby blankets dipped in cold
glacial spill, onesies washed with
soap from a plastic box
pearl christening buttons
rolled in sequoia, and sand, and mulch chips
A ranger is lining up cars at the bottom of the mountain
A ranger is collecting pacifiers and teething giraffes
for the lost and found
Every time I'm born
I’m dreaming of national parks
50 cent soft serve, metal cups of pump water,
a poorly photocopied map to lose beneath a car seat
Every American baby is dreaming about the water cycle
land management policy
brown hats
drought
congressional budget lines
wildfires
and every American baby knows the same lullaby:
Arches, Badlands, Crater Lake,
land, land land
la la and