Hell

“After John Colter discovered what is now Yellowstone National Park,
he told others of the scenic wonders there. No one believed him, and
his listeners derisively dubbed the imaginary place Colter’s Hell.”
—Merrill J. Mattes

Though others came long before
to warn,
to worship, moving
between the mountain and its hell—
a place reserved
for a hot spring
one hundred miles
east—they moved toward
that spinning altar
of the Bighorns.
The spring now
cooled,
homes fish that adapt
to the spot where I threw
my bottle full of Copenhagen spit
to float off, until it was small
then smaller, and I could draw
a bead on its orange cap
and shoot, so it could sink
to the bottom and rest.

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Tyler Truman Julian lives in Wyoming, where he writes, edits, and teaches. He received his MFA in fiction from New Mexico State University and now serves as Review Editor for The Shore. He is the author of Wyoming: The Next Question to Ask (to Answer) (Finishing Line Press, 2019), from which work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work has been published in Barren Magazine, Tupelo Quarterly, South Dakota Review, EcoTheo Review, and other journals. For more information, visit his website: tylertrumanjulian.com.