“Buddies No. 1” © Bonnie Matthews Brock

 

Bleached Bones in the Arroyo

I waited for storm off the mountains, sky to split open.
Wind brought dust and hornets humming sage instead.
Mouth cracked like heels after a long walk.
Cold tea in a chipped cup.
Vulture wheeled slow over the dry bed.
There the bleached bones lay in the arroyo.

Noon light cut sharp, no mercy.
Your promises fizzled to nothing in the heat.
Mesquite scratched at bootprints.
Rattlesnake coiled under a rock, tired.
Hand pressed sand where your name sat once,
faint as a stray dog’s track.
Now just the bleached bones in the arroyo.

Poured grief into dust, blood from a cut thumb,
spit after coughing, ink from this pen.
Words came slow, like ants from broken earth.
A dog lapped red from the sand and wandered off.
Silence hung heavy as that unspent noon.
And still the bleached bones in the arroyo.

Thought your voice might wake the old river,
slick stones, call coyotes down.
Thunder rolled close, smelled like wet dirt for a minute.
Passed over dry.
Echo died out. Prayer too heavy in the throat by then.
Just the bleached bones in the arroyo.

No rain tonight. Fever took the rest, skin hot,
tongue thick, last light gone.
What stayed wasn’t me anymore.
Lines scratched out on a scrap,faint under stars.
Ribs showing through, remade quiet from what’s left.
The bleached bones in the arroyo.

 

Loki Kone: “While I focus mainly on poetry I have started writing prose more frequently. I am starting my literary journey and am excited to work with your publication. (I actually do bore my family)”

Bonnie Matthews Brock is a Florida-based photographer, and retired school psychologist. She loves hiking the urban and woodland trails of “anywhere” (and pausing often to shoot photos) with her very patient husband (and often collaborator), Ted. Her images have been featured on the covers of magazines such as Ibbetson Street, Wild Roof Journal, Poesy Magazine, Humana Obscura, and Arkansas Review; as well as on the pages of publications such as Oddball Magazine, Ember Chasm Review, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Beaver Magazine, and Lateral. Her works are archived at institutions such as Poets House NYC, Brown University, and Harvard University. You can view more of Bonnie’s images on Instagram @bonniematthewsbrock.