The shadow is the ice melting
down ravines of drowned hipbones,
beadings strung in the sunlight. 

It rubs its head between
two stones, peeling back its skin turn-
ing itself inside & out. 

A shadow as soon as this stretches
like a cad in tall seagrass. This
one casts barbed, spear-like missiles. 

Men are shadow. Women are too,
from past lives twirling inside white
mountains. Smooth, flamenco calves.

***

Photo by Alberto Lucas Pérez on Unsplash