Stranger tractor
The chaos of story creation settles into
seven plots. A key turns, releasing birds
from a 5-barred gate, a 1-bar atonal stave,
to peck like words in churned furrows.
Somewhere, a dripping tap.
Blind mice are trapped in a shrinking rectangle of
uncut wheat. Metal detectors stroke fallow fields
for resolution. Round and round again, you shake
your fist at relic-hunters stealing your memories.
Somewhere, a clicking clock.
The slowest wings are the saddest, each beat a final
heave towards the shore. Buckets of water are poured
over a stranded whale until it dies and is towed
to the fields, treadmarks swallowed by endless tides.
Tim Love’s publications are a poetry pamphlet Moving Parts (HappenStance) and a story collection By all means (Nine Arches Press). He lives in Cambridge, UK. His poetry and prose have appeared in Stand, Rialto, Magma, Unthology, etc. He blogs at http://litrefs.blogspot.com/