Special Feature--Nell Dalton--(In Memory--Born April 15, 1921--Died November 19, 2012)--United States

It is always honor writers from the past as their words have an opportunity to touch writers of the present and future.  I would like to thank Yancy Dalton for sharing his mother’s words with us.                                           Sincerely, Karen O’Leary--Editor

Montezuma Canyon

Montezuma, I had forgotten
How beautiful you could be
In spring, when things are greening up
This is the place for me.

Some find their thrills in distant lands
And some even fly to the moon
But I hear the ‘call of the canyon’
In April, May and June.

Seeking ruins of the Anasazi
and their ancient habitats
I've roamed around on all your hills
And all your sagebrush flats.

I know you were a happy home
To those of ancient lore,
But none before or after me
Could love you any more.

Though I must say goodbye someday
Long after I am dead,
A lonely ghost will walk your hills
In search of an arrowhead.

                      

From Yancy Dalton--Nell Dalton, my mother, grew up in Wentworth Missouri on a farm. Mother moved west when she married my dad.  She wrote poetry as a hobby.  She was hired by the San Juan Record, writing "Nell's Newsy Notes", covering all the news about the town’s people.  A lot of her poetry came out in the San Juan Record.  She also wrote senior news for them later. They held a banquet in her honor and gave her a gift after she retired.  Record noted that a lot of babies were welcomed to Monticello, with a hand-written poem from my mother. Dad was a rancher, providing opportunities for my mother’s poetry in magazines like, The Record Stockman.  I was at her bedside when she left us.  We all loved her very much.