Two Pieces for a Bone Flute

You Must Be at Least 35,000 Years Old*

an ancient

well-preserved

woodwind

a mouthpiece

a vulture’s

wing bone

an instrument

drilled

mouthed

blown

Looking Ahead 35,000 Years, Give or Take

The future as we call it is a vulture

that circles and circles the sky alone  

circles and circles until it dies of hunger

drops to the earth like a bloody stone.

Wolves snap and snap as they watch it fall

crush its skull as it lands, crush its wishbone

crushing ribs, femurs, feet, claws, all

except for the already broken left wing

over which two clumsy pups brawl

dropping it at once to howl and sing

into the dusk with the bloody rest.

The worst clouds gather, throw lightning

again at the same old tree as if to test

the crone hiding behind it, and out she darts

grabs the wing, holds it to her chest

and runs like hell for the cave in our hearts. 

________________________

From The Crone Poems (unforthcoming).
*Flute. Wikipedia.