Monday, April 4, 2011

Poem #4

"Paradise (Lost)"

An explosion of fire, smoke
swells from an oil rig:
this artificial island suspended
over water, its fractured legs
bent like a heron's
its head tilted away from heaven
a fall from (dis)grace

Oil spreads like the devil's hands
reaching out for sinners unrepentant
and greedy for sunken treasure
swallowing wahoo and yellowfin
along the way Brown pelicans
bearing the weight
of man's transgressions

The horizons of this deepwater hell
have broken into pieces of a nightmare
that no one can sweep up
not even God

And the sinners who ask for mercy
suffer from amnesia, their memories
evaporate like smoke
vanish into water

They begin to build
another island

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