Earthquakes And Eruptions

I live with a turtle
in cold corn field rows. He is hard.

Last time we visited a moon together,
he took my pen, his tricky art,
pliable concern caked dirty under
turtle nails.

He has not always been
a beast. Once, he had wings.
He hovered above sandstone.
I thought of his death. Afraid.
He would be ghost treasure feeding
corn field soil.

He was a well-made horse. Gallant.
Reinforced.
I bridled him. Caged him.
The Big Blue Marble called to him
with a voice
of adventure,
of freedom.

But, he was kept.
Trained.

I nailed his shoes to the dirt. One day,
I felt the Earth crumble beneath my
dainty feet.
Earthquakes and Eruptions.
The horse ran free!

I cried for a year,
spent one more in guilt,
then another in admission..

until, one firewater night brought him
back to me. He stood like a horse.
He spoke like a horse.
He drank like a horse.

But, he was not a horse.
His eyes had become chicken neck yellow.
Shifty.
He tried to stand as a horse,
but he startled
and ducked,
tucked himself inside.

A turtle. With a shell.
In a field.
Cold.
Hard.
Taking my pen because he hasn’t any thumbs.

Self-Reproach

She lived in a junk ocean
swimming
in the dark waters
of nostalgia

She gave birth to four babies
two in the spring
two in the summer
She tied
all four of them to Her gills

they were heavy
they pulled and tugged
on Her
making Her instinctual efforts
tedious

She never let a tide change
without
reminding
the
four of their weight
of Her struggle

still
She carried them
dragged them through
Her muck
strung them along
deep
in the dark
junk ocean

the tides changed
over and over

eventually
the four
grew gills of their own
weight
swimming muscles
and She was forced to untie them
still
reminding them of their weight
of Her struggles

the four stayed near
Her
eager to help
to relieve Her
of  the strain
they had caused

but no service
could mend the damage
done to Her
strained
tired
gills

the four
swam around the
shameful waters
drowning in moral
conditions
as the weight She
had been burdened with

slowly
slowly
grew in the gross waters
latching on
to the strong
untouched
gills
of the four

weighing them
down
down
down
deeper
into the dark
junk ocean
where
they surrendered in Her
waste