Natural History

A dry weaverbird’s nest

         strung from a dry branch

least weasel

        & wolverine   red stilt-legged wolf

spotted clouded striped

            snarl of predators

rearing herd

            midflight, heavy antlered

a dim room for the jerboa’s

               little matchgirl ribs

hulk of mastodon

       chiming sequence of horse fossils

lone glass bee

             thirsty among so many flowers

frayed fawn curled   in its case

             in its air of alertness

    in its pale twist of grass

 

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Martha McCollough is a writer and painter who lives in Chelsea, Massachusetts. She has an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Baffler, Crab Creek Review, Salamander, and Tampa Review, among others. Her videopoems have appeared in Triquarterly, Datableed, and Atticus Review.