California is Burning
Brazil is On Fire
Australia in Flames
one can’t be a poet and be silent
broken words shatter worlds
with lies
stories told retold
compelling fantasies of life
as it was wished to be
seen through veils of childhood dreams
meanwhile too many
have had their eyes closed
forever
shielding his wife from a
bully
shot while backing away
he went back inside
and died on the floor
in front of his five-year-old child
shot while backing away
he went back inside
and died on the floor
in front of his five-year-old child
Stand Your Ground!
license to kill in America
Broken Hearts,
Broken Minds
caged children
emerge
disconnected
the emptiness of
their eyes shows
blankness of lost memories
suffering with no recourse
the magic of
loving touch dispersed
in darkness
the sun pours
down
impossible
liquid buttercup
sunflower warm
melted gold
heaven’s
wealth sliding sinuously
enveloping the
earthbound
should-have-been-joyous
reaching upward
to bathe
engulf immerse all
in sweet drawn
butter molten
incomprehensible
Love held in stillness
but slipping away momentarily
such an ineffably beautiful
world
unless there
are no windows no doors
cinderblock
walls painted to look like outside
a deep horror of false color and light
Indonesia
is in Flood
Puerto
Rico is Drowning
Millennial
Rains fall without end
Africa’s
soil is cracked and dry
even
the rich are carrying buckets from the well
the
melting arctic perma-frost releases
long
dormant diseases of ancient days
vast
movements of people shifting
from
ancestral lands
the
cries of family bones ignored
that
the family may survive
I heard that
half of American youth
have never
heard of Auschwitz
no wonder the light is fading
we all bleed
inside each other’s wounds
the
wells of memory shallow
in
spite of centuries
silt
washes down from chosen ignorance
to
fill
obscure
delude
remove
the mirrored depths
all source of reflection
California is Burning
Brazil is On Fire
Australia in Flames
Indonesia’s
in Flood and Puerto Rico Trembling
Shuddering
as Earth tries to shake us off
billions
of creatures
whole species Lost
our Final century dawns
unknown, unacknowledged
if Death has a memory
she will Sing for us at the End
Yonnondio!
© 2020
pamela twining
