The Flat Aspect (poem)

The Flat Aspect

A man stands on the shore of a great lake

He holds a mesh tray sifting through sand

he finds

bottle caps, small change, the coin of his trade

Yet undiscovered in the dregs

All these things he thrusts aside

Grasping the fiberglass handle of his spade

he digs like a badger under putrescent green

algae, oil pools with the sheen of an abalone

Latte colored foam

Washed in traceries to mark the path of waves

from passing vessels

He digs

And floodwaters spread across the plains

the ancient buried lake of legend

fed by rivers from the tundra’s melting

boils near earth’s rising core

circuits, grinding pebbles at the surface

He digs

A geyser from a chamber in the lake’s heart blows

A massive dome of water surges waves concentric

the river flows

rainfall and snowmelt having nowhere to go

sit mud-brown mirroring clouds that pass overhead

and nothing more

A Faint Hint

(2015, Stephanie Foster)