“Love in the age of dying icebergs” a poem by Jessica Clark
I wonder if we will love as we have
always loved, as geologic structures
slip into the sea
solidity crumbling, islands swallowed
by the sea.
There are peaks and valleys,
whole mountain ranges on the verge
of eruption just beneath our feet,
from the pressure of fracking.
What’s the word Sarah asked
earthen parabolas
Where are we going?
is the puddle warning the sidewalk of the depth
it will soon face?
squishy worm bodies splayed out
on the sidewalk
this city & all cities, and unmarked cemetery
with layers of dessication & encroachment.
How can we make promises when the polar vortex
turns our skeletons to icicles?
chattering teeth.
How can we make promises when the rain doesn’t fall?
What will grow in the record heat?
What will grow in our hearts?
this f*&*& world.
I dreamt I became sour milky crustacean clacking
frantically with my crustacean friends,
searching for water and thirst became universal
and we remembered wildness, the wild thirst gang
and no one sent water and no one clacked down at
us pitifully
and no on sent water
and that is the way it is
to be in the hands of the gods