River of Feather & Web
       

They have not found it yet.
              The boys on the bridge scour the ground.
So many things like shiny things, stolen things.
              The web shimmers when it has something to say,
speaking through the feet.
              Every boy wants to be the one,
after weeks of searching
              with the dogs through the fields.
It has been so long since it rained.

The mouths of hungry crows grow black.
              They're getting colder all the time.
A dead lead dried into thinness,
              died into you can still see where it was,
the shirts and shelters close-to-almost warm.
              Clouds don't mean to be kind or unkind,
blocking the catch and burning
              in a winter-widened sky.
It has been so long since it rained.

The egg in the throat has opened to speak.
              The boys say there is nothing here now.
Their hands so covered in the dirt they raked,
              and no water left to put them in.
Rubbing the hands together against carrying
              the cold, the dirt, and what has happened.
They don't want to leave it, and they don't want
              to take it home.
It has been so long since it rained.

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Copyright © 2012 Carolyn Guinzio All rights reserved
from Spoke & Dark
Red Hen Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission