PETROGLYPH

The night ends. The choices evaporate. There is a process through which a fixed percentage of us can be clearly distinguished. It involves oscillating between plant & stone. Branch & invertebrate. Chitid & lichen. Algae. Three of the saddest words in the dictionary.

All of us speak in generalities now. “Language is little more than a dialogue between unwilling participants.” We were not the first to peer over the edge of this particular volcano.

For some, it is not necessary to correct those who spread contradictory information. For others, the lack of correction is the exact thing that haunts them. Presumably, we must have conducted ourselves in much the same way, in so doing, attracting the hiss of a cicada storm. An archetype which holds sway over the actual text.

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From Issue 11 of Sweet Mammalian

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Craig Foltz is the author of four books of poetry and/or prose, the most recent of which, Petroglyphs, is out via Compound Press. In addition, his work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. His current project is a sort of public service poetry generation service – called Road Trip With Strangers. Everyone is welcome to play along. He lives and works on the slopes of a (theoretically) dormant volcano, somewhere on the west coast of New Zealand.