| Milner Place lives in Huddersfield, England. His 7th poetry collection, Caminante, is his most recent work - released by Wrecking Ball Press (www.wreckingballpress.com). He has also written The City of Flowers, Piltdown Man and Batwoman, In A Rare Time of Rain, etc. |
© 2004 Milner Place
WEST OF THE MISSOURI
The tree was set high among rocks, tortured
and warped by winds. The horse and the dying man
were content with its leaking shade, lizards
cold-eyed the flies resting on the mare's flanks
and a sidewinder hankered for the flesh of geckos.
In that moment the clouds stopped, their shadows at one
with brown leaves of corn, dust, and the stagnant lake
being devoured by lilies. He got down from the horse:
undid the girth, slid the stained saddle from her back,
patted her neck before taking off the bridle. She stood
head bowed until he slapped her rump. She wheeled
and galloped down the hill to become lost in the tide
of bushes. And he began to sing a love song through
the blood in his throat. He thought: these words
are the hoof prints of my passing, these the shadows
of lost birds, the sunset dreams of mariners. Fuck it.
He lay down in the shade with the snake, the flies
and a posse of lizards.
All work is copyrighted property of Milner Place.
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