winter’s bones
McKinney Falls, Texas
in a static dance
bare limbs writhe
ecstatically between
dead leaves’ clatter
*
like a jilted lover
the trees’ gnarled fingers
grasp after grey sky
*
water grinds grooves
through the rock
before falling
into the curved silence
beneath the trees
*
like disembodied legs
of a prehistoric beast
the trees’ roots
clutch the shoreline—
eternal children
dangling their toes
in the water
*
as if in a glass
display case—
beneath leaves floating
upon the water’s sheen
a skeleton of a deer
rests as if running
on the river bed
(January 5, 2017)
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