poetry
by Larry D. Thomas
Postcard
(on the outskirts of Alpine, TX) (Alpine, Texas)
Iron frames his balcony
like a bold, black line
framing a postcard.
At the lower left Chollas
nestled on its flanks
are clusters
of the vista, he sees
a fawn trailing a doe,
their forked hooves
clacking against the red,
volcanic rocks. He hears
the plaintive sounds
of the fawn’s bleating,
wooing warm milk
from the udder of its mother.
The middle of the vista
is dominated by a horizontal
of distant mountains,
seemingly beyond
the unrelenting
pummeling of time.
Finishing off the scene,
in the upper right corner,
like a black dust devil,
looms a darkening
swirl of vultures.
22
Hancock Hill
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2013
of old rugged crosses.
Deer trails
thousands of years old
are manicured
by the clacking
of cloven hooves.
Boulders,
saturate with eons
of sunlight
and moonglow,
loom like ruddy,
imperturbable prophets.
Yuccas
are so adept
at parsimony
they desiccate erect
into their own
tombstones.