Photo from the Texas Hawking Association
Unexpected City: Memorial Trails
OffCite presents the tenth submission to the Unexpected City challenge, made by Camilo Parra. Click here to learn about making your own submission.
The Trails of Memorial Park
The coral snake tentatively treads in the leaves decaying
colors camouflage her yellow bands,
a warm winter day unusual to see her.
The last time I saw a rabbit it had been mauled,
head gone, intestines bulging out of its coat,
the prey of hawk or coyote.
The buzz of cars on Memorial Drive occasionally draws near,
low overhead wires disappear going where?
They once fell in the rain, sparks were dampened by the drizzle,
smoke smelled of aluminum and bark.
It is cold, birds sing around swamps slopes towards the hidden
bayou, barren tree trunks spring out of the understory
always green, a large ebony swoops
behind a dead tree, bright red head,
a woodpecker, it senses me and flies
lower into the woods white bill leading, the ivory bill.
Camilo Parra
January 2011
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