Found Poem: Pocket Geology

by Tess Taylor

Atop
               the Earth’s mantle, rock moving:
               Continents are milk skin

floating on cocoa.
               A restless interior
               sweeps them along.

In trenches
                                            minerals decay—

at the core                        landmasses

digest                  themselves.

The crust does not move
in one piece                      but in segments.

Mostly these carry
a continent with them, but sometimes

             continent
and mantle un-couple—

then blocks tilt
                                            like sidewalk

on unstable ground—

This poem is from Tess Taylor’s forthcoming collection, Rift Zone (Red Hen Press, April 2020).

Published on March 31, 2020