Cavern Lost
By Kane McDermott
In blind caverns
you see with hesitant hands.
Reaching out
you map each wall
as your palms navigate
glossed sediment—
that shimmers in
the presence of an
absent light.
The isolated scent of
soggy limestone
saturates the air
as you further your spelunking.
Sweat drips from the tip
of your nose
and onto the floor—
as the skin-warm walls
do the same to you.
Your cave,
This cave.
is not filled with
parietal art
left by your ancestors.
No.
Your cave is that of
a miner’s—
with scars where
alluvium veins once held
deposits of gold.
No,
your walls are much too
damp for drawing.
Either way,
paintings or scars,
it’s much too dark
to see in the cave.
KANE ANTHONY 