Scott Simpson · Poetry
July 12 Register Cliff
Selected Poems 1989 to 2009 · source pages 91
All poetryThe original line breaks, stanza spacing, and placement are preserved. Long lines scroll horizontally.
Source page 91
July 12
Register Cliff
R. Nesbitt-
1855
Norris Carter- 1993
The swallows have hung their mud nests
in clusters beneath the jutting ledges.
Below, both R. Nesbitt
and Norris Carter have worked
their names into sandstone,
scratched out an easy kind of permanence.
The softer the stone,
the briefer the monument.
The rain begins,
large, heavy drops
released by thunder,
my head marbled,
something Michelangelo
might release an angel from.
But I'm more a cliff swallow,
an Hirundo Pyrrhonota - 1995
darting in and out,
patching, plastering my temporary perch
as the rain begins its work,
clearing the cliff of all but its
own
indelible signature.
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