of the Oso Landslide in WA State in 2014, still the deadliest in US History as of 2022
hillside slides cribwalled in medics and pills
and coached-up hope that latest land lost under water weight
will be the last, and digging from both lawyers and engineers
will ensure it, will be truth-making but
nothing is too fixed to shake
who gets permission for truth-taking
from the penumbral digging in insecure light
around hills’ sides sheared by what? gravity?
engineer failure? act of God?
which question unlocks the answer that raises the dead?
Megan Wildhood is a writer, editor and writing coach who helps her readers feel seen in her monthly newsletter, poetry chapbook Long Division (Finishing Line Press, 2017), her full-length poetry collection Bowed As If Laden With Snow (Cornerstone Press, May 2023) as well as Mad in America, The Sun and elsewhere. You can learn more about her writing, working with her and her mental-health and research newsletter at meganwildhood.com.
