Monadnock

Single file is what kindergarten drilled into us

Midjourney art created by the author

Take shelter beneath your sunscreen
at golden hour. Practice a deliberate act,

step at the same speed and size
on stones built by public works programs

and the quiet conflict of Avalonia, Laurentia,
paid with acres and eons of folds and sillimanite.

Everyone can play the part of a mountain goat,
a rescue worker, a sculpture master

under the watchful eyes of ravens and vultures
calling to gathered masses in the clouded break.

I’ve climbed the cross a half dozen times now.
Never enough water, never enough waves,

too many brittle joints for the breaking.
Single file is what kindergarten drilled into us,

knees wobbly like a new kid writhing
in the afterbirth of its sudden entry.

©️ Trapper Markelz 2023