Blue sky.

Green land.

The structure

stands —

white face

bare of marks,

unblemished

but for one

blank,

black

cyclopean frame

that stares –

unblinking –

out and down

the length of

wooden ladder

leaning –

scar-like –

against its flat

and featureless

face.

From

that dark eye

a woman leans,

extends her leg,

her foot

to rest upon

the ladder’s rung,

shifts to set

its mate beside…

Crack!

Snap!

The steps –

one into the next –

collapse…

Legs stiff as spears,

the woman —

earthward —

arrows.

A second woman

follows;

a third;

a fourth.

They fall

like stars,

like stones;

heaped upon

the earth below.

The last alone

tumbles free,

rolls from the pile,

skids gracelessly

at bruising,

breakneck speed –

unshod,

skirts hiked –

feet-first down

the sloped

green sward…

Hear

the torn-turf

rumble of her

approach.

See

the fear

stamped clear

upon her face,

as she draws

near,

nearer,

n e a r e r…

 

— C.Birde, 5/20