| Back There By M.V. Montgomery |
There’s an old tree in that lot where a Divorced Man stood a long time,
waiting for his estranged children to return. Beneath it are two bikes,
a girl’s and a boy’s, now rusted out. Those skid marks on the road
mark the spot where a Teenage Girl followed another car too closely.
There used to be a small shrine and pot of flowers to mark the spot.
That obelisk is what’s left of a sign pole—some recollect a gas station
or a fruit stand—and a little further beyond, by the bend in the creek,
are the ruins of a campground, where the faithful once gathered
to perform baptisms. Deeper into the woods is an abandoned bus
with Community Baptist in faded lettering on the side. It’s said
a Wild Boy left behind at a meeting once made it his home. You see
traces of his campfire on the nearby charred stones. By the shore,
there is a turned-over boat with a hole in the hull left by fishermen
and plastic bait cups that never degrade. The foxes used to be plentiful.
It still pays to be on your guard against snakes. A huge pyramid
of tires stacked on pallets looks like a monument to a lost civilization.
You come upon it suddenly after parting the Tarzan vines of kudzu.
Those old boards jutting from the tulip tree are a hunter’s blinds.
That granite formation resembling a woman’s head is the Sad Lady,
who followed voices and abandoned her family one spring. The irises
growing nearby were planted by her children, who mourned her loss
even after she was eventually found and taken home. Watch out for
the boarded-up well near the chimney stone of the sharecropper’s shack.
Occasionally, a curious dog sniffs around the site before the bottom
drops out of its day. Soon its memory is displaced by another pet’s,
and the Lost signs on the utility poles are reduced to staples and pulp.
waiting for his estranged children to return. Beneath it are two bikes,
a girl’s and a boy’s, now rusted out. Those skid marks on the road
mark the spot where a Teenage Girl followed another car too closely.
There used to be a small shrine and pot of flowers to mark the spot.
That obelisk is what’s left of a sign pole—some recollect a gas station
or a fruit stand—and a little further beyond, by the bend in the creek,
are the ruins of a campground, where the faithful once gathered
to perform baptisms. Deeper into the woods is an abandoned bus
with Community Baptist in faded lettering on the side. It’s said
a Wild Boy left behind at a meeting once made it his home. You see
traces of his campfire on the nearby charred stones. By the shore,
there is a turned-over boat with a hole in the hull left by fishermen
and plastic bait cups that never degrade. The foxes used to be plentiful.
It still pays to be on your guard against snakes. A huge pyramid
of tires stacked on pallets looks like a monument to a lost civilization.
You come upon it suddenly after parting the Tarzan vines of kudzu.
Those old boards jutting from the tulip tree are a hunter’s blinds.
That granite formation resembling a woman’s head is the Sad Lady,
who followed voices and abandoned her family one spring. The irises
growing nearby were planted by her children, who mourned her loss
even after she was eventually found and taken home. Watch out for
the boarded-up well near the chimney stone of the sharecropper’s shack.
Occasionally, a curious dog sniffs around the site before the bottom
drops out of its day. Soon its memory is displaced by another pet’s,
and the Lost signs on the utility poles are reduced to staples and pulp.
| Contributor's Bio |
M.V. Montgomery is a professor at Life University in Atlanta. He has poetry forthcoming in Babel Fruit,
Words-Myth, Dream People, online whispers and [Shouts], and Bird's-Eye ReView. He is currently
working on his first poetry collection, Strange Conveyances.
Words-Myth, Dream People, online whispers and [Shouts], and Bird's-Eye ReView. He is currently
working on his first poetry collection, Strange Conveyances.
Photo By Martin Rollins
| The Honey Land Review Fall 2008 Volume 1, Issue 1 |
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All content contained within this site is protected by copyright laws.
Unauthorized use of graphics or literary material is strictly prohibited.