I have lived in Phoenix since 1978 when I moved from Vienna, Austria. Born in Austria, I grew up in Manchester, close to rain and the northern English industrial zone. In my early 20s I went to live in Vienna and from there enjoyed many trips around Europe, often as an artist working in watercolor. My poems have appeared in Slipstream, Skidrow Penthouse, and Poem, among others, and my Selected Poems appeared in 2014 from FutureCycle Press. http://www.davidchorlton.mysite.com
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Nightfall

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The Santa Ritas hang
from the sky by a claw.
Night takes first
 
the lowland oaks,
then soaks into the barks
of alligator juniper
 
before rising to the highest
granite peak
and spreading a wing
 
above the canyon
where the bats flow
smooth as water
 
from their caves. There’s
a ring-tailed rustle
in the streamside grass
 
and insect voices pulsing
in the forest
where the darkest minutes
 
gather, while the smallest
owls listen
for even smaller prey
 
among the fallen needles
of the pines. And the jaguar
stretches himself awake
 
preparing to follow
old scents again
after sleeping a hundred years.