Paradiddle
Paradiddle of drips
from the sedimentary shale,
rainbow stains of metals,
calcium, feldspar
on the inactive quarry walls,
two blackbirds
browsing the arete,
two blue dragonflies
skimming the brim of the drum
of water beneath.
Horse-hooves thud
against the mountain floor.
Shrieks of swallows
echo the quarry.
Drought and erosion
weary old firs
at the lip of the bowl
of gold gravel.
A dusty scrim of water
pools in the center
and autumn tatterdemalion
drifts overhead.
It is said that nature
will restore itself here,
but not in my lifetime.
This is no scar that eventually
some skin will cover,
unless a cave-in takes down
the walls above it.
This is a void where life was.
One swallow calls
to another to evacuate
mud-daubed nests
of their fragile young.
We too shall leave
this mountain.
Jeff Burt lives in Santa Cruz Country, California. He has previously contributed to Sheila-Na-Gig, Heartwood, Willows Wept Review, and others. He has a digital chapbook available, Little Popple River and other Poems, from Red Wolf Editions, and a print chapbook from A Filament Drawn so Thin from Red Bird Chapbooks. More can be found at www.jeff-burt.com
Paradiddle of drips
from the sedimentary shale,
rainbow stains of metals,
calcium, feldspar
on the inactive quarry walls,
two blackbirds
browsing the arete,
two blue dragonflies
skimming the brim of the drum
of water beneath.
Horse-hooves thud
against the mountain floor.
Shrieks of swallows
echo the quarry.
Drought and erosion
weary old firs
at the lip of the bowl
of gold gravel.
A dusty scrim of water
pools in the center
and autumn tatterdemalion
drifts overhead.
It is said that nature
will restore itself here,
but not in my lifetime.
This is no scar that eventually
some skin will cover,
unless a cave-in takes down
the walls above it.
This is a void where life was.
One swallow calls
to another to evacuate
mud-daubed nests
of their fragile young.
We too shall leave
this mountain.
Jeff Burt lives in Santa Cruz Country, California. He has previously contributed to Sheila-Na-Gig, Heartwood, Willows Wept Review, and others. He has a digital chapbook available, Little Popple River and other Poems, from Red Wolf Editions, and a print chapbook from A Filament Drawn so Thin from Red Bird Chapbooks. More can be found at www.jeff-burt.com