| Dig on the Mount by Catherine Daly | ||
Would-be conquerors, we bravely set out. We slowly brushed sediment from fragments. We propped shards together so their relationships were evident. The relics seemed inappropriate standing straight. They seemed weaker assembled. We couldn't right the ruins. The stones blurred. Their dust stuck to our sweat. Our helmets rusted apart. While they were not too heavy, they had obscured our view. We found our discoveries not important or evocative as the site. The dead water was beautifully, wonderfully blue. At home, they waited. They wanted to reassemble, interpolate, translate the whole. They feared we wouldn't return. We brought them nothing we wanted. _________________________________________________________________________ CATHERINE DALY teaches an online poetry workshop for UCLA Extension. She is currently writing a couple of poetry reviews for Poetry International. Daly is also the creator of a software company called e.g. Visit the UCLA Extension Writing Program Website: http://www.unex.ucla.edu/writers/ |