Ann de Forest
AMMONITES
mountains once were ocean evidence coils beneath
our feet prehistoric curlicues not yet nautilus not yet
snail not yet calcified turban washed up on the beach
………………………void of any tender
……………………………….creature
barely old enough to remember tasmanian devil’s cyclone
wake cartoon cat’s stiff armed stumbles vertiginous eyes
hypnotize pulsing black & white watch dangles
………………………sways eyelids
………………………………fall
…………………………………………………………………..where does time begin?
crack the case find the spring sister crouched beneath
a crib a finger flick sends silver spiral shimmying up
spinning down mesmerized by tiny revolutions
mesmerized by bounce and drop
………………………by boing
…………………………..and hum
………………………………………………………………………danger up ahead
rattler on the trail vortex in the toilet bowl fingers
furled to pack a punch lobster thrashing in a pot fallen
leaf and flame-licked letter go in green come out red tail
………………………rolled up between
………………………………your legs
tentacles sweep across the map tempest whirls turns
one blind eye twists wind and water flattening palms pounding
the panhandle whitening the gulf your thumbs
………………………too cold to leave
……………………… any imprint
………………………………………………………………………curl up & die
old woman tends her labyrinth plants boxwood seedlings
ankle high a lifetime pulling weeds curves her spine
………………………downward
…………………………….eyes drop
fiddlehead unfurls to fern colors swirl across the page
to seal a book adorn a spine ossify as marble boxwood grows
high grows round the generation’s last survivor
walks her labyrinth sprigs fill to hedge path
………………………vanishes
…………………………….as maze
………………………………………………………………………so easy to lose your way
split the pod find the bean
split the bean find the finest curling
tendril waiting for instructions to unwind
our own little bean a blip on a screen
………………………nestling in
……………………………a hurricane
………………………………………………………………………look down
the rosy sidewalk slabs dotted
with fossils spinning right under
………………………our eyes
………….. ………….ammonites
………………………………………………………………………look up
obscured by light expanding
overhead nebulae no need
………………………for any
……………………………witness
Ann de Forest’s work often centers on the resonance of place. Her short stories, essays, and poetry have appeared in Coal Hill Review, Unbroken, Noctua Review, Cleaver Magazine, Found Poetry Review, The Journal, Hotel Amerika, Timber Creek Review, Open City, and PIF, and in Hidden City Philadelphia, where she is a contributing writer. She is currently editing an anthology of essays about walking, Slow Going, to be published by New Door Books in 2021, a project inspired by having twice walked the entire perimeter of Philadelphia, the city she’s called home for three decades.
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