Found Sonnet #5

after Clare L. Martin

The land is made of naked coal—winds stir,
breathes a desert into Earth Mother’s throat.
Pillars and tunnels are cold as old bones,
mineshafts a harvest of muddy wet veins,
sky made of threads of copper and water,
abandoned underground as a leafless tree.

It is comfortable to care for nothing.
Below us, something good has gone to rot—
others try to eat from the fruit we’ve bruised.

We began in God’s breath—a fire of stars.
Crows caw a warning; cleaning women shake,
mark our decaying flesh with salt and clay,
draw a midnight cowl, smother the quiet.
We should chase our sun like the open clouds.

Janette Schafer is a poet, photographer, playwright, and realtor living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds an MFA in poetry from Chatham University. She is the author of three collections of poetry and the chief editor of two poetry anthologies. Her writing and photographs have appeared in numerous journals, newspapers, and websites, including Vox Populi, The Missouri Review, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Eunoia Review. She is a winner of the Academy of American Poets Prize.

Found Sonnet #5 - Janette Schafer