Boneyards.
by Victoria Scott

Mounds rising, spiky grass

        thorns and thistles edging lilac

parched stakes thrusting skyward.

        rattlesnake gopher holes

dank tunnels into compacted

        early loosened dirt.

Wind, caressing, abandons

        still and twitching souls.

Prickling in heightened hair

        antennae for thoughts

        long since interred

free only when the heaviness of earth

        swells.



     Gunfire explosions throbbing air waves

        unconscious,   momentarily before

          warm flowing red streams from your neck

Are you still?          There?

        Alone in the steaming heat

        leeches, creatures crawling through skin

Cerulean scarlet reptile waiting for death?

        Frozen stone, iceberg heart?

Unclench your hands

        rise expanding through

        death twined life.

Absorbed but unforgiven

Isolated in silent agony

        You remain.



I tunnel into life,

        visions momentarily stilled

        before the warrior morning transformation.

Transparent images drift through haze

        while nuzzling warmth creeps

        about my neck and into

                my arms.