Painted Hills, Oregon

https://blackforkreview.com/merridawn-duckler

Bone branches where the green continues to grow
décor the ochre vertices brushing the ground like rose knuckles
as we march round and round the stunning wound,
base coat, chalk, gorse, the yellow of crumpled formican
tables. So fragile the past! How it needs our signs.
Do Not Proceed, and still we walk the checklist,
under a clear and blue sky, followed closely by
a bird that offers nothing, except for teaching,
signs and warnings. The hopeful scent sage and pine.
sprays the forest copse
these thirty million years. The leaf fossils craquelure
celebrate brokenness, where history crawls back in.
Even as we steal land, it gives the light back.
These painted hills, everyone loves
their subject, how the rough, dust coated berries
black as the eye of wild daisy
burst, and run ahead. Our childhood runs ahead.
Nothing cares for us, and everything is a guest.

April 27, 2023

reach: 503.504.2768
stamp: 820 N. River, Suite 104 Portland OR 97227
gallery: blackfish.com

©2024 Merridawn Duckler
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