practice rounds

the vastness of the prairie swooned
and careened for miles beyond the
brushstrokes of shades of grass and bush
and the occasional tree
stamped permanently over the landscape
as though their prominence
and light and prevalence
could not be foreseen by
the gods who shot fire to them
from the endless space of sky
beaming overhead
and the shots
like practice rounds
on a human shaped target
drawn on a thin sheet of paper
made the landscape
of the prairie
unique from others
in its erratic upshoot
of life