Upon This Spot in History

Upon this very spot, history whispers …
Standing upon this Oklahoman ground
listening to each story plot tell time.

A Cretaceous skeleton lies buried
deep underneath this earth …
where Homo erectus men died
delirious with convulsions and fever
from malaria-ridden mosquitoes
in prehistoric, tropical environment.

Then millenniums later
buffalo roamed vibrating
shaking the ground, quaking
from massive herds migrating
over wide-open plains …
Littered, with flint arrowheads
Indian braves crafted, as protection
from annihilation, of White men
invading ancient tribal lands.

Evidence of wagon train bravery, arrows
still embedded. Undiscovered in skulls
of a young pioneer couple, riding
wheel-rutted trails of misfortune
across Indian Territory
in the wild, Wild West.

Now, pungent odor lingers of the skunk
hit last night, by eighteen-wheeler truck.
Motivating reluctant, road-weary body
to climb back into, Jeep Explorer.
Driving far away, from interstate
roadside picnic/rest area,
leaving aluminum beer cans,
cigarette butts, and Big Mac meal turd
floating, in a public port-a-potty.

Now, our modern-time legacy.
On this very spot, where …
history is screaming!

Share this
Continue Reading
About the Author

(Antonia Love) Toni Huffman, grew up in Houston, Texas. Now, living in the Ozarks for 20 years, she is enjoying adventure and nature. She was an educator for 36 years, still a world traveler and now retired, focusing on completing writing projects. President: Ozark Mountain Poets (branch of PRA). Recent publications: poems in e-Merge Magazine, 2023-2024, SLANT Magazine, 2023. Won 2023 Woody Barlow Poetry Prize, nominated for Pushcart Prize. Poem in Spring 2024, Cantos: A Literary Journal.

Antonia Love
More Posts by this author…