The Wall

by Alethea Eason


Metal shafts lay down shadows on the border,
south and north. Human tracks trace the line,
disremembering the grace of nature.

Javelina loses a baby through the bars.
Rattlesnake sneaks through, citizen of neither country.

Ocelot’s allegiance is forced and unexpected.
She slumbers beneath a cottonwood
that sips from springs on the other side.
Her thirst has declared its native land.

On the top of the shafts, blackbirds converse
in grackle language about their passports
made of sun and a wind whipping from the sierras.


* * * * *

"The Wall" was first published as one of the prize-winning poems in Desert Exposure's 2020 Writing Contest.

Alethea Eason is an award-winning writer and artist who has found happiness and her true home in the intersection of desert and mountains in southern New Mexico.