the wind
through high crags
screams
taunts

to the soil scratchers
clinging
to terraces

scraping
at the mountain’s
skirts

a caracara
screeches
disdain

a twister
seizes dust

to feed
a far desert

a fox
barks

grass rustles

bends

How one can speak so beautifully and uniquely about the wind, I'll never know.

wonderful job,
cheryl

milner i really enjoy the desolation in the piece.  i eyes take me to the midwest, the eve of a storm and arm hair standing up.  especially enjoy "to feed a far desert".  the arrangement of animals and earth make me wonder where all the people are, very isolating for the reader, enjoyed. lawrence

Like how this travels from high to low, Milner. The soil scratchers are doing okay. Tom

an enchanting picture Milner.  one could either be camping or sipping spirits at a haughty b&b, warming by a fire, enjoying what you've created.

thanks,

tiko

Could this be Incans or Aztecs on terraces scratching out a mean living while vultures watch for leavings? Fascinated by the earliest cultures. Your poem certainly sets the scene in its time--like bare bones.

Thanks all for the comments. It is indeed an Andean scene. I kept the people (soil scratchers) to a minor role, as I felt this  appropriate in such a large landscape.

milner

this is a title that really enriches the poem.

milner, quite the portrait you painted. enjoyed -

Glad you enjoyed the trip, SL. Writng it took me back about 40 years, but it's still frash in my head.

Once in a while, Tom, we get em right.

Hope you heard the picture too, Casey, which, hopefully, melds sound and silence. Thanks

milner

good stuff, milner!  and good luck with the reading this weekend!  go get 'em!
john

Thanks, John. In case anone is near enough to Huddersfield, it's on Thursday, Huddersield Literary Festival, Regional voices. (perversely don't think what I'll select will be very 'regional'). Programme at:
http://www.litfest.org.uk/diary.htm

milner

the wind screams...to the soil scratchers...scraping at the mountain...a caracara screeches

Equating the wind's scream and caracara's screech with these "calls" of the subsistence farmers a great statement in imagery, Milner.

Nice work, Milner. I will read it again later. Best regards.