Writing class
The Cave Dwellers
Wind-blasted, salt-sifted weathered skin.
Lean, straight-backed somewhat hirsute figures
rippled with hard-grafted muscle and bone.
Running, climbing, swimming,
hunting, gathering, fishing - days spent
sharing, caring, laughing, playing - just living.
No death, no fear of death,
no regrets in endings
Just rejoicing in new beginnings.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
Words are unnecessary
Loud, inappropriate, corrupting.
A vocabulary of different meanings
proliferates with sights and sounds.
Grunts…purrs…clicks…gently punctuate the still pure air - unscalding.
A language of signs and liquid faces
Subtle, almost psychic communication;
Imperceptible to the outsider.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
Fluctuating fortunes. Life itself
dependent on sun, sea and earth -
fearfully eyed and goddishly revered
And signifiers of every kind
regarding worst enemy - weather.
Frost air bites the skin and
Icicle-haired figures retreat
closer to the bosom. Seeking warmth
amidst the skins of bygone food.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
And today, as I walk through town
I notice some like-kind creatures.
The homeless and the dispossessed
with their long bedraggled, unkempt hair,
Furrowed brow and Neanderthal stare -
as if our pre-historic ancestors
now inhabit the streets.
A curious glance is exchanged
as if two different species meet.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
Indifferent humanity. At nature’s mercy.
A precarious existence
Breeds a different kind of creature.
No currency in the way of life,
unspent words cease to have value.
Adapt, adopt a life worth living beneath
the symbolic structures. A devolution
of speaking and seeing.
The under-class: a world apart.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
(The Cave Dwellers by Sue Petty. Submitted by the author)
Wind-blasted, salt-sifted weathered skin.
Lean, straight-backed somewhat hirsute figures
rippled with hard-grafted muscle and bone.
Running, climbing, swimming,
hunting, gathering, fishing - days spent
sharing, caring, laughing, playing - just living.
No death, no fear of death,
no regrets in endings
Just rejoicing in new beginnings.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
Words are unnecessary
Loud, inappropriate, corrupting.
A vocabulary of different meanings
proliferates with sights and sounds.
Grunts…purrs…clicks…gently punctuate the still pure air - unscalding.
A language of signs and liquid faces
Subtle, almost psychic communication;
Imperceptible to the outsider.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
Fluctuating fortunes. Life itself
dependent on sun, sea and earth -
fearfully eyed and goddishly revered
And signifiers of every kind
regarding worst enemy - weather.
Frost air bites the skin and
Icicle-haired figures retreat
closer to the bosom. Seeking warmth
amidst the skins of bygone food.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
And today, as I walk through town
I notice some like-kind creatures.
The homeless and the dispossessed
with their long bedraggled, unkempt hair,
Furrowed brow and Neanderthal stare -
as if our pre-historic ancestors
now inhabit the streets.
A curious glance is exchanged
as if two different species meet.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
Indifferent humanity. At nature’s mercy.
A precarious existence
Breeds a different kind of creature.
No currency in the way of life,
unspent words cease to have value.
Adapt, adopt a life worth living beneath
the symbolic structures. A devolution
of speaking and seeing.
The under-class: a world apart.
Home crafted in glistening rock
The cave dwellers inhabit some other place.
(The Cave Dwellers by Sue Petty. Submitted by the author)
