A man asked over the internet,
Do you know anyone who has gotten sick?
None of his friends say Yes,
and he convinces someone
to venture outside.
The obvious point that what we’ve done
Is working, is lost on them.
Today, I fried the last two eggs.
I thought of tipping my hat to Carruth
and chasing them with the final shot
of whiskey.
I’ll need to go to the empty aisles
of my local grocery store soon.
I will have to suit up, say a prayer.
I’ve listened to the news all day again…
The world is a positive test result,
the world is a false negative,
the world tested positive
on a second wave, and now
no one knows how we end.
The Money Demon says it’s time
to go back to our work—Only old
people die.
It’s not true.
People die before
they get their results.
In their kitchens. Or bundled
on their couch, binge watching
the stories of love and death.
Drowning horribly, gasping unheard
into the lonely air of their rooms.
Did I mention that in the emptiness
of my room, I answered yes?
I had some friends who died.
J. P. Dancing Bear (Featured Poet, October, 2017) is co-editor for the Verse Daily and Dream Horse Press. He is the author of fourteen collections of poetry, most recently, Cephalopodic (Glass Lyre Press, 2015), and Love is a Burning Building (FutureCycle Press, 2014). His work has appeared or will shortly in American Literary Review, Crazyhorse, the DIAGRAM and elsewhere.
Photograph by Wren Tuatha.
"Did I mention I'm a geologist?" --often told lie by Ryan Zinke*
Who doesn't look at the mountain and wonder,
What could that be put to use for?
Who doesn't look where the ancestors are buried,
and wonder what their time would be like
stuffed full of chemicals?.
Who doesn't look at the mountain and think,
How can I break that down for its minerals?
Why wouldn't the spirits in the water, rocks,
and trees, not want to be free of their bonds
and their children?
Who doesn't look at the mountain and ponder,
Where did all this natural resource come from?
Is the spirit energy trapped in the rocks not happy
in its home? Who says, Granite, Shale, Gold, Ore,
Uranium, and thinks themselves as liberator or hero?
Who doesn't look at the mountain and ask,
Could I own this mountain or sell it?
All the spirits and ancestors are thinking
About the government word, relocation,
And how much more the heart can break.
califragile.org 