wayward youth (we) wander through vodka :: cockspur culm strag
(we) light up on a bleach gray oak snap :: restless mother
hills sleep :: slow to birth
(we) migrating youth mimic tongue blast
wood whistles ::
buzzy crow hack :: sandy meadowlark purl ::
doll eyed barn owl shadow flute::
:fire caves
a
stone
eye
frames a vast plains pris[m]on
wayward youth (we)
profane silence w/ sweat
mud deep :: :: this wilderness
gentrified by science :: interior dept no alcohol [[lol]] fuck that says th spider in
each of us :: (we) this presence adrift & invasive :: always brutal paws :: ash taste (we)
’ve tracked in sweats th glass to tallgrass fog :: none of this is ours but here
we are :: (we) drive to parallel forest :: hunt out th witchs altar :: blunt stump
& stone in the cedar :: labor day muck over:: untuck in the lake :: cold
only rumor before october :: (we) wander medicine park faded w/ tilt ::
muggy dank blues :: cobblestoned sex :: i dont know what all of this (we)
enjoy too much to have so little money between (we ) :: a filthy dead seabird
stinks space on the riverwalk :: two little boys cry :: one of (we) heaves up
a burger ::
a bull in the oak :/ shift
dashed to slits
watches
old range eye
old rage tense terminal trees sag
onyx creek mirrors silver
drain
shutter\: into noisy rust
The Army's proposal to take over 10,700 acres of the wildlife refuge will reduce the public recreational
area of the refuge by one-half and will include, as we have stated, 6 of the largest recreational lakes,
most of the remaining lakes being in the big-game area and too isolated and small for much public
use. The mountain area in the proposed Army withdrawal includes the life-producing watershed of
the refuge from which comes the runoff to maintain the recreational lakes and the rich pastures for
the big-game herds. This is a very important feature of the refuge. Removal of this area would be a
mortal blow to the refuge. In this connection, it should be noted that there has always been a
tremendous fire hazard at the refuge. It is certain that the fires which will result from the firing of
heavy guns, and especially rockets, in this rough area would sweep out of the mountains into the
heavily wooded and grassed recreation and big-game areas, resulting in their destruction
a young elk drips velvet
looks you dead on
one set of eyes
in frame
to know
you’re there
to be seen
anything that’s written
glyphs something else
waves over suns
circles of eye the deep portal of gaze
lichen on the rock neon yellow
composite more process than being
mutual aid at bacterial level
in the zone fort sill took over in 1956
looms mount sheridan named for a scar
deep in the
marrow mantle of this land
dull & sharp
when wars comes it stays
occupation a fence & cattleguard
around something older
than all laws
How do you write a place? Cartography
sketches it out, but there’s no heart in bird’s eye,
only prey—A canyon wren off a tree
falls with its song from the narrow pink sky,
nicks a foot on bottle glass from bud light.
A mountain boomer sprawls like a gash on
the forehead of a rock in the day bright
passion that makes you run & scream at dawn
when the mists bead your thighs as in response
to communion—When you write a place, first
feel the weight in the muddy printed paws.
Take in the ozone & its dry rock thirst,
here is where it has happened forever,
the first sign to know, and the first letter
f r o m u p t h e b l u f f s i t s g o d j u s t b e y o n d
s p i t t i n g n o w a n d a g a i n i n t o
sheer crash valley be low called N a r r o w s
bro ad stro ke pro fondo
igne ous wa v e s w at er crack
cr ack crac k cra ck ol d hid es
i n c o r r u p t
don t rep el al one
i f y ou fa ll on ly
m is t fl o w e rs
t o c l o u d l i p s
a n d f e a t h e r
th e s t ar i n
t h e b ac k
o f
e y
y o
e u
s r
somew[here]ay in th tumble
& hold
of this ancient earth castle
[this]
[[wilderness tuckt / shorn bifft |theState
]] &you begin [2] ponder [yr] weakness
[in] the trash of this world
For [we]]]]]]]][you]][we we wewe w
] [wanted] [2] cool pink skin in yarrow dander
to see yourself
freedom at its most golden
[i]]]]]]
[wanted] to give [you]
s[t]on[e]s
g
in the space we reserve for prayer
where there is no1
but maybe somewhere
that
[we] pray to
no
((Hear is a letter [for] a gaptoothed g[h]ost://
[i] want to scratch these stones into stars w/ [u[[[
to hear
scream th sane scream of song
[yu]|o wd trade it all [4] blue ridge waves
silver brine Swannanoa
Controlled burn
primary goodbye
& when earth
rangers locate
skin bone
hear face
& that
is why [i] try to understand [2].ppl
&the indifferent lonely
of beasts
& y [i] here
miner's shaft
where a rusty door
banshee bangs
in summer gunk wind
& y
[2] sing about love
[&y] no [1]
should be
[i]
[want] [2] finally know poison ivy by its leaves
& walk
around it
[...]
[every] shade a sun : every we a herd : every annual auction :
spoor left on a corral gate :
[mountain boomer
sprawls
This selection includes passages from Congressional documents relating to “Transfer of a Certain Tract of Land, Being a Portion of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, to the Secretary of the Army for Use as a Part of the Fort Sill Military Reservation, Fort Sill, Oklahoma,” 1956.
Originally from Oklahoma, Seth Copeland currently teaches and studies in Milwaukee. His work has appeared in Kestrel, Yes Poetry, Heavy Feather Review, Dream Pop, and Cobra Milk, among others. He is the founding editor of petrichor, an archive of text & image.