rain rises mildew thought couldn't survive
heat you suffered to shrink its spores
over the steam of wet cement
the rotten-dry scent
warns of you haven't seen yet
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shadows growing spot by spot
. . . . . . . . . where you chipped away the caulk
to let the desert in
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .to parch & purify
. . . . . . . . .cells needed water
. . . . . . . . . . . .for all that
. . . . . something . .survived
Utah Crater Mystery Cracked
shocked quartz . . . . . . another broken border
millennia since Upheaval
Dome was instant built
in canyons of magma & salt
. . . . . . . . . . . . we learn impact of alien
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . that couldn't even speak
then fold the page & watch Jose
trim our bonsai verge
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .& leap
to mime the angle he should cut
Elizabeth Kate Switaj has two books of poetry forthcoming: How to Drink a Floral Moon from Blue Lion Books and Magdalene and the Mermaids from Paper Kite Press. Her chapbook, The Broken Sanctuary: Nature Poems, is currently available from Ypolita Press. When not writing, she teaches English at Shengda College of Zhengzhou University in rural China and edits Crossing Rivers Into Twilight.
