Estill Pollock

The Alibi

She was dressed in wild honey, standing
motionless where the road
rose into the biscuit-glaze of hills

The world was heat-shimmer, evaporating as I watched

I noticed most of the sky
slipped into the scraggy juniper gorge

Henna tattoo, filigree ankle flower—I noticed
clouds in her posture

Salt, its taste and texture, grinds in the teeth

Other evidence is circumstantial, sunstroke events
placing probability
within the process of free will

The sky was baked blue

As you know, she was dressed in wild honey

Most of this I confirmed later in writing

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Estill Pollock was born in Kentucky, and has lived in England for more than forty years. The pamphlet Metaphysical Graffiti was published in England by Highcliff Press in the 1990s, followed by Constructing the Human, a major collection from Poetry Salzburg in 2001. Between 2005-2011 the book cycle Relic Environments Trilogy was published by Cinnamon Press (Wales). A collaboration with Broadstone Books in Kentucky provided the impetus for his recent poetry collections, Entropy, Time Signatures, Ark, Heathen Anthems, Alias and Parse Poetica. The e-chapbooks And Then and Working Title are published by Mudlark.