“the dueling dinosaurs”
By Melisa Santana
whispers spread
of a discovery in hell creek:
ornithischian and theropod engraved in stone,
preparing to fight one another – one for
food, the other, survival. land belonging to earth,
belonging to man; greed
held them in a chokehold, violent,
angry, more ferocious than
any dinosaur, any extinct being. forges cruelty
from hearts of neutrality until all else
suffocates. dueling dinosaurs,
legal limbo, sixteen years rotting
away. cherished infinitely,
affectionate gazes gracing
pre-historic rock, finally adored by the eyes
of the masses. two creatures oblivious
to the awe they’ve created,
long dead, forever preserved, preciously loved.
