The soaring hawks who patrolled this highway
through the winter watched as wildflowers grew.
As if the sky were napping on the earth,
the fields in spring explode in deepest blue.
Fields mirror sky and fill with the shadows
of hawks and vultures flying through flowers.
Bipedal hairless apes swarm through the fields,
teeth bared, pointing rectangles at each other.
In just a few more weeks, the bluebonnets
will wither and be swallowed by the grass.
Then the soaring hawks will get their fields back
as, ignoring green, the apes just drive on past.
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This was first published at Bolts of Silk (thanks, Juliet!) back in May 2009. I figured I’d share it here now since it’s springtime and our awesome Texas wildflowers are starting to show up along the highways. Also, I’m busy and getting over a cold so it’s a good time for posting reruns of a sort.
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Caroline at Caroline at Coastcard [Land & Lit] wrote some very nice things about last year’s gnarled oak chapbook. They’re all gone now, but you can still read them online (though apparently not if you’re using an iphone).
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Dave Bonta is running a cool little contest over at Moving Poems wherein contestants will produce a videopoem using Howie Good’s poem “Fable.” I’m almost done with my entry. Deadline is April 15. Check it out.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
It’s a lovely poem and I was delighted to publish it, nice to see it here too!
I was very happy about it. I had just started sending out poems and it was one of the first acceptances I got so this one has a kind of special place in my heart.
Add a couplet, make a sonnet! But then, that is just me asking for more of this lovely imagery. “Sky napping on the earth”… nice.
It’s funny you say that, Joseph, because that’s exactly what I tried to do two years ago, but I couldn’t get it to work so I decided it just didn’t want to sonnetize. Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed it.