Gimme Shelter

She was closing up shop

When the mountain

Came down

It sent two kinds of rocks

Shuttling down

Through the valley

Straight through

The heart

Of what used to be

A bustle town

Now not a ghost

But not living either

She hadn’t had a customer

In close to two weeks

And closure was on the table

She saw the sedimentary

Sliding past the off-gray cars

And tried to remember

If she’d paid the insurance

For this month

It’d take too long

To unlock the door

And get inside

Before the rocks arrived

Instead she took off her heel

And smashed the glass

Then walked through it

Just as the first boulder

Made a dent in the sidewalk

And took out the parking meter

She’d ranted about

To anyone who would listen

Town goes broke

And puts in parking meters

What kind of sense

Does that make?

She slides under the counter

Where the customers used to pick up

Their interview suits

Back when there were customers

Or jobs to interview for

She hears more glass being assaulted

Wood over windows

Giving way

As bits of mountain

Make their way

Into the abandoned parts

That the mountain forgot

There’s a wind kicking up

And she thinks she hears thunder

But it might just be the sound

Of an avalanche

Navigating the town

It was only supposed to shadow

Whatever people left in town
Aren’t screaming

Or if they are

She can’t hear them

What looks like gravel

Goes skittering along the floor

Past where she’s crouched

Buffalos stampede

Covered wagons roll

A circus comes to town

But it doesn’t stop

It’s got to set up

Somewhere down the road

The mountain goes from this town

To the next

To the next

Looking for a little bit of life

To cover up

Before it settles

Along the ocean

She wants to tell it

That there doesn’t need to be

This much destruction

She wants to walk out into the street

And let the rocks fly past her

Like she’s in the middle

Of a meteor shower

Suspended in space

Ships going by

All kinds of ships

Pirate and astronaut

Sailors and war

The kidnapped

And the undiscovered

But she stays where she is

Until the last of the beatings

Die down

To a low

Low

Crumble

She thinks about taking a look outside

To take in the damage

But part of her already knows

What she’ll see

It’ll be exactly

What was there

Before

Today was a day

That only felt special

When really--

The world full of water

Was always covered over

With rock