Landscape, with Lake and Pleasure Boats

A salt lick, a watering hole, a thumbprint 
embossed on a clearing in the dusty hills. How 
did it become this fantasy of paradise, willows
weeping with the weight of untrimmed blooms 
as flat-bottomed boats circle the surface of 
a manmade lake? At first, only a handful 
of them. And then, more tourists clamoring for 
a turn. Now there are too many concessions, 
crowding the water that merely flows around 
and around itself. Concession, from the Latin
con + cedere: the grant of privilege by 
a government to individuals to engage 
in some enterprise. Or, the act of allowing 
or conceding. Who gave the first permission? 
They fight among themselves for the right
to the largest fleet. They name ghosts on 
business permits as their children intermarry. 
They forget the history of ruin, how the most 
accurate ledger is the one kept by rain.