White Season

White Season
By Joe C.

“All the earth is a grave and nothing escapes it, nothing is so perfect
that it does not descend to its tomb.”
-Nezahualcoyotl


have the mountains always been green
and the soil brown?
did these bristled chunks of stem and leaf
always stand so sharp?

looking down seeing the footprint
beneath mine,
perhaps of a 6 foot dolphin
running from the merciless
alabaster like predator
that shadowed his every move
like a hawk to a rabbit.

as I put my ear close into the wind
a voice of blue yells in minor.
Listen closely,
the whistling sound of the wind
plays a song of dread and fear
and it stops as the wind
stands hidden.

and all that’s left is
a green, brown colorful land
camouflaged to conceal
a black, gray
White Season.
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Foot Note: Dolphin refers to the Chumash clan of Ventura County.