Vulcans

    Adder toothed flowers snake
    the broken ground where
    molten tongues cremated
    the twisted, bunker forms -
    a Latin cross of
    green jubilation
    lies matted atop a
    sweating road, calligraphy in broken stone.

    As trembling shale collapses into thin hills,
    light fuels to cross the Pale.
    A little exploratory weeding droops this lava rain.

    A long, dove fence comprised
    of stones & rattled by ancient slaves
    winds its distance
    along the gully
    borne in fire, percussion caps,
    cretin growth
    lobbed under
    creeping wire.

    Shafts of pioneer light
    delight in coral baskets,
    empty twilight darts the
    agave swords' mauve pitcher plants.

    The 1692 Tremens decimated Port Royal[1]
    - moved a ravine from
    florid to mossy shadow
    where antler shoots today announce
    temperate plants, eclipse by-gone tropic flowers.

    [1] An earthquake destroyed in the seventeenth century not only the
    stronghold of Jamaica's pirates but also changed the topography of
    the North Shore creating Fern Gully.