A lady bit a face into a leaf
when the wildflowers were asleep
The face a plate of shock and horror
at what the world had become
The top of the face, a pumpkin’s
handle, eyes to the sky
green cataracts
carved into a scream
When the flowers woke
they didn’t understand who was among them
and they could not escape
A turkey vulture flew overhead
silent soaring
eyes on the dead
who stood paralyzed
on the verge of a thing
