Bio
Chris Litsey is a teacher, poet, and former editor of Indiana University Purdue University Columbus’s literary magazine, Talking Leaves. He’s published there and in other publications. He is also a father and loves reading, writing, getting tattooed, and exploring museums.
Trigger Warning
Hillside monster, overlooking the locks, the passing
Hulking masses of floating rust.
Exquisite solitude from the hilltop view,
Watching the falls grow in inhabitants,
Descendants of the fearful furry beasts it
Used to trample. A temple of rock and densely
Wooded outcrops where the only
Worshipers are chance hikers or
Clamoring children, amazed by an ageless miracle.
How did this beast fall? Where did it roam,
Creature of petrified bone, rocky dome skull?
What wretched fangs were ward off?
Were you trapped beneath your
Gray-boulder tomb? Did you know of your
Doom? Oh great mystery reptile,
Lost to time for millions of years, what did you
Witness transpire on the banks of the Ohio?
Mammalian rise, the tracks of man,
Extinction over and over again.
Meteoric demise; did you witness it or the
Rise of apes with flint-knocked claws?
Maybe you’ll outlast them. Through
Death, you’ve earned a certain freedom, not
Bound in plaster, buried in timeless mud,
Or propped up in a frigid museum.
Rest in your hillside lair, lost lord lizard,
Outlasting life with wily ways.