WENDY L. HAMMOND
Hollow

Hollowed out
Like the dead log lays its head

On a bed of sienna, rust and saffron

            A white flag flaps free-spirited
            And the wind sings
            A tragic song

Broken limbs
Stagger about
From long falls and entanglement

As the vines to freedom feel their way in
Through the cracks in the sky

            Continuance
            The rotation of time

As night, or first light
Descends
Everything bends accordingly

Unlike how animals
Defend the wild
The circle of life

            We drag our dead
            From the front
lines
            With their insides falling out

And what finds its way home
Still walking
Stumbles about  -hollow