(575)By Eric Mack
River cracks the Earth,
Seven syllables this line,
The bridge to Haiku.
North
by Gary Feuerman
I like the volcanoes
on the Mesa
near where my house is
invisible from space
There’s a tributary of the Rio
that runs from the mountains
still covered in snow
like healing powder
sprinkled to cool the pain
My body
on looking into the valley
wants first to run west
into the flatness
of desert
but below the skin
my soul dreams north
space
by Robin Powlesland
the space between teeth
changes
throughout the day
and it’s hard to know
what I make
and what is real
where do we go from here
too the mistake
voiced and distinguished
I brought my tarot cards
to tell the future
but no one wants to hear it
the voices have been
told and loud
I have very much liked
yesterday
and the day before
but today and tomorrow
are like my tooth
missing and what’s left
is a little swollen
empty
where do we go from here
but wave our magic
wands and hands
purses and matchsticks
work our way through
all the stuff
just so much stuff
Rift
by Charles Clayton
700 miles
Colorado to Chihuahua
“New Mexico” gets wider:
one mile every million years
Fault block mountains rise
valley basement drops
buried seashells exposed
glaciers come and go
rain wind rivers snow
tear everything to pieces
grains of sand
carried to the Gulf
Magma probes the crust
earth skin pulled taut and thin
volcanoes burst through
low spots fill with molten lava
become high spots
basalt mesa rimrock
cinder cones shields
back to black dust
blowing in spring winds
River follows rift
no valley of its own
no branching watershed
long lonely line of life
carving out canyons
digging deeper
straight south to El Paso
and suddenly
east
and
out
leave the rift behind.
