WELLS CREEK BASIN
AMY WRIGHT
Between 100 and 200 million years ago, a meteor
plowed 2,000 feet
into the Wells Creek area, sent out shatter cones,
pocked a four mile
wide crater drilled by NASA moon scientists, and later
visited by bank tellers
and dentists trying to save their family the uncertain
impact of divorce.
Shatter cones seam shock lines fine as hair strands,
petrify velocity
geologists would use to determine the 36,000 m.p.h. speed
when the meteor struck.
Sudden blossom of molten limestone, silt lotus, earth splash.
The planet’s face
breakable as a bucket of water set down in a living room
to catch shocks
of rainwater. Small garden where seeds flower at once—
change like a girl
stopped mid-cornrow to fondle the pink earrings she plants.
