On the way to your house

Under the shrill of cicadas

I found the remains of a cow.

Ants soldiered over the bones

staking claim as if it were ivory.

Dark scars on the road told the end

of the story where cows follow the

fence to freedom...the skull caved in

with a soft nudge of my shoe.

I bent down and saw the eyes

were gone.  Flesh and fur

weathered to nothing.  My fingers

traced curving angles, poked in joints.

One bone's white horizon rose up

from the dirt, submerged just so

perfect even the ants left it

alone.

I took a deep breath--paid my silent respects--

the cicadas never ending their chronic hymn--

then hefted the bone into my bag.

Author's Note

The bone sits on top of my bookshelf.

There are a few lines I'm still working out. Comments and suggestions are always appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Reviews

[Nobody.]

pretty cool. I collect things like that. this is a story well told. I noticed one typo....stanza 4, line one...think it should be "[as] it came into focus."

Flies creep me out, too. lol! I wear a surgical mask and gloves when I go bone hunting. Just because I'm kinda germy.

cheers!
cheers!

[Tony]

Yeees, pretty strong sound and visual imagery. Shows the reader the scene very well. Somethings just standout to us all of a sudden-- this makes for a captivating story because it's something we can all relate to. You know like reminds us of our own story about a special object sitting on the shelf. There also seems to be a subtler message about how these objects can be like "talismans" or just like something that reminds us or inspires us to write-- or maybe that's just me looking to into it I don't know. Nice story-- thanks for sharing this one.

M

[Light]

I like this; the poetry in everyday life. It kind of just ends abruptly but real life ends abruptly most of the time. Hey, it happened that way. What else is there to say? lol I thought this was kinda cool

[Doug Ordunio]

Rather unusual, and I like it. Though it's fine the way it is, it might be improved by illuminating the scene with more detail.