TRESPASSINGNo Trespassing
No Hunting/ No Fishing
Danger: Blasting
Private Property
By Order of
Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company
duck beneath the barrier
slip beneath the warnings
walk 2 miles on heaved blacktop
to photograph the pile's inevitable invasion
frogs fly, bellyflop beneath our feet
as we wade through rutted puddles
on the flooded road
bury their splayed heads in mud
as if we could not see their lump of flesh
the sound of monster trucks backing up
beep beep! penetrates the rustle
echoed motors shift to climbing gear
soft wind from the clear lake
through teeth of ferns and thimbleberries
maples oaks the whirr of bees
the clack of grasshoppers, a fly strafes
a mosquito perches graceful drinks my blood
a hornet sinks its stinger
into my index finger
sharp pain invades the reverie
infused over all here the clank of trucks
silhouettes on the anomalous horizon
dumping offal from conveyer belts
ore magnetized into pellets
earth turned inside out to yield
a garden of iron for commerce and cars
across the lake the barren red mountain
a landfill without odor or gulls
pebbled bouldered cliffs so steep
mountain goats or llamas could not get foot
beyond that skyline the gouged pit extends
for twenty miles a crater
ribbons of magenta and stark gray
God, how can the sun shine
without regard and innocent
on this green watery foreground
while in the background all devastation
proclaims the necessary victory of mines?
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