Arrowhead Ridge
In this pathless journey two boys on
bikes compete with the morning
hillside's fifty little goat butts winking
at the sun. Every atom in the coffin
still spins, they tell themselves before
racing down the hill laughing with
no-think – Every cat catches the first
rat for the first time! – as at the sound
of thunder all the trees lift up their limbs,
a veritable mouth-fence of crows upon
the moon. Balloons carry the puppy
up the neighbours' steps, tiny cowboy
boots on porch – empty the pencil
sharpener one childhood gone.
Red sheets dream toward ground.
Ghost planes fly amongst the leaves.
The air has quieted – the flame is safe.
Ambulance driver steers with elbows
pulls on gloves father's ashtray silent
volcano dog face between fence posts
so lonely so lonely so lonely.
Matt Dennison is the author of Kind Surgery, from Urtica Press (Fr.) and Waiting for
Better, from Main Street Rag Press. His work has appeared in Verse Daily, Rattle, Bayou
Magazine, Redivider, Natural Bridge, The Spoon River Poetry Review and Cider Press
Review, among others. He has also made short films with Michael Dickes, Swoon, Marie
Craven and Jutta Pryor.
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