Imagining a Volcano in Second Summer

The volcanic ash
flowers
as it falls

a sifted field
of barrenness

magma trails
like back of the hand veins
that scaffold
the land
or tears
that meander
broken ground
as slow-moving lava
flows

Kodachrome light
says this has all
happened before
incandescent particles
sweep through
a glow of bees
even the hazy air seems
molten from here

TERI McCORD

Terri McCord’s work has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net. She loves interweaving visual and verbal literacies in the context of nature and relationships. Work is forthcoming in Talking River Review, The MacGuffin, and a new book, Light Enough, in 2027. She is a visual artist as well.