Mindscapes

A deep pit with a crumbling edge. Far below, is a muddy pool swarming with crocodilians. There is someone with me, a boy. I shouldn't have taken the child here. I am slipping, taking him with me, he won't let go of my hand. We are sliding on pebbly scree. A gun drags at my hip, its weight pulls us down to where green-scaled and armored reptiles thrash in a melee. One mindscape devolves into another. I’m a visitor to strange and as yet unmapped streets. I've lost my parked car somewhere between many unfamiliar city blocks. Home is a door in the back of my mind, I suspect that behind it is a child who knows the way back. A small boy appears, he is holding a tin wind-up crocodile, one his dad once bought him. At his side a long-barreled revolver, the same type of weapon I purchased in Florida in the event of an alligator attack.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2025

Poem

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