The Cave

Poetry. Winner of the 2013 The Bitter Oleander Press Library Award for Poetry. "Hand art on Paleolithic cave walls is the artery, but observations like cut gemstones are woven into Tom Holmes' exciting tapestry of THE CAVE with its hunger for mystery to balance you along the edge: 'When the wall opens, / I am lightning in the antelope's antlers / and the stripe along its jaw.' These poems wrestle with the concept of time. They want to capture time, yet realize that time is elusive. So, they attempt to understand time through concrete experience, which poses its own dilemma. Even 'The Needle,' a vehicle which hopes to stitch the fabric designed to apprehend time, is ephemeral: 'Let me tell you about the needle. / It is and it is not. It points / to what will be, and what it isn't...' Undeterred, the poet continues his quest. Enjoy this exciting journey through the primordial future."—Alan Britt