Walking the Ties

A big hawk surprised

flapping off from the ground

but no sign of a kill

later, a startled jackrabbit

the black-tipped ears

& high back legs,

scooting away

thru gray mesquite

Then a rabbit skull

in the red sand

West Texas

thinking back how Peter

dead now two years

an anniversary

reached down like that

& picked up a cat’s skull

off the railroad ties

back in Buffalo

placed it in my hand

“something

to remember you by”

Bruce Holsapple grew up in Dexter and is a founding editor of Contraband magazine, Maine’s first well-known small literary magazine, and its 21st century spinoff, Vox Audio. His poems have appeared widely in books and periodicals. He lives now in Magdalena, N.M.