I like the imagery of “earth cracked like a scab”. I personally am not a fan of prose poems usually, I did see someone break it into a stanza but here is some other suggestions. I thought of breaking the first line after fence to imagine someone literally opening the fence and walking past it. Also adding a dash before the earth cracked like a scab line adds emphasis to me.
behind a chain-link fence
we never once saw open
a songless autumn of grey leaf-light
and old water. Even in summer.
Even in that summer when
whole fields died for want—
and the earth cracked like a scab.
Even then it was autumn; damp
and deep enough to drown a child.
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