a thousand degrees of recycled rock
hot rocks like diamond genitals
lava flows planetary semen
Prometheus clay
retching planet
future rockery
age old bed
a thousand degrees cuts deep rivers
and makes a glorious scab for
wounds that leave no scars
witness canyons caves craters calderas plugs and mountains—igneous
formations dignified by a million cooling years coinciding with
a breakout species that grew up thinking
it knows how to tinker
yet cannot cobble
a way past war
safe waters rippling
quiet stream beds cool
moss dripping clinging lasting
steep basalt walls and fallen logs
watery sweet prosperity
quietly waiting
rippling



Photo by Rebecca Autumn. Caitlin wades in Oneonta Creek in Oregon where many volcanoes of the Boring Lava Field surround her Portland home