The Green Bowl
That girl sings like a desert creature
Dry and howling
Forever prowling for ghosts and bone
There is an ancient tone
Rising like a desert mountain
A sandy fountain of dust and memory
A world descended from its former glory
Who knows her story
Were there oceans here once?
Did mermaids swim here
Where the coyote now hunts?
Here, you could parch to death
There, you could drown
Now after unfollowable centuries
Lives choked down in silence
The mountains rise up like bellies
Like breasts
Like turned-over cups
There’s too much sun in this awful place
Like a skull with a smile
Frozen on its face
Don’t believe it
Don’t go laughing and dancing in this heat
There is nothing here to save you
Just a world to repeat
Where that girl is still singing
What is still changing?
I can hear her from here
Sing with terrible courage
Right into the fear
By Julie Flanders
Photo by Joshua Newton
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APRIL IS POETRY MONTH, Day 24
October Process 