A Poem by Joe Vastano

 

SIDEWINDER DARTS AWAY

 

 

Trace the hard

 

clarity of jagged bronze

peaks against

 

blue sky; fierce

patterns of volcanic

rock flaking

 

off in angular slabs and

roiling up the

 

mountain like a fossilized

fire.  Saguaro and cholla cling

like a green

 

rash spreading over

 

its deep-lined skin.  Sand

lifts off in a dark

 

sheet.  Life

 

must be diligently

searched for

here and

is usually found one

 

shade-seeking

missile

 

of  thirst at a time.  Life

 

has been made

weird here. 

 

Its head horned, its

 

skin hard and

 

scaly, its ears

and eyes gigantic, its

 

feet fast

 

 

 

 

Joe Vastano started writing at sixteen. He traced Jim Morrison to Kerouac and Rimbaud, took them at their words and deranged his senses on the road for twenty years. Now he's sorting through it all.