In Your Second Mojave Springtime
If you arrive where saltbush
stretches along switchbacks
that sidle toward mining
camps abandoned
years back, you might rest
in the ragged shade
of an ore bin tower
that shelters the toxic
slide of rattlers, find an orphan
chunk of silver or zinc
the last monsoon
failed to sweep away
and wind didn’t thrum with sand,
you’ll tread ground
where a sunstruck fugitive
once declared his need for sleep
under the brilliant green
of a catclaw acacia,
the air about him shimmering
with the quiet reach of the sun.
JC Alfier’s most recent book of poetry, The Shadow Field, was published by Louisiana Literature Press (2020). Journal credits include The Emerson Review, New York Quarterly, Notre Dame Review, Southern Poetry Review, and Vassar Review. He is also an artist doing collage and double-exposure work.
Comentarios