Monday 18 January 2010

…Until It’s Gone by Joseph Harker

After we’d dug down deep beneath the surface
of Alaskan untamed wilderness
or the heartbreaking cerulean of the Gulf
and harmattan-swept sands of Arabia,
sucking up our fill of light, sweet crude,

when the gas fields of Persia and Siberia
ran dry, and the plants fell quiet,
and the coal mines were empty shafts of granite
full of dust and the smell of men,
and the rivers whose water we stole
for the Kazakh steppe and the Sonoran sprawl
dried up behind the dams,

one day, when the fluorescent bulbs flickered out,
and the engines refused to fire,
when our computers switched off,
and the sprinklers slowed to a trickle,

we stood up as one

and we walked outside into the humid air,
blinking against the sudden sunlight,
saw the struggling trees and intrepid squirrels,
heard the interrogatives of sparrows
(instead of the whirr of central air
or the roar of SUVs in the street),

and as one, unsure what to do next,
for the first time in a long while,
we looked up into that sapphire sky
and saw just how big it really is.


Joseph Harker, USA

6 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

Joseph Harker is the pseudonym of a grad student in the US who occasionally strings some words together; sometimes they turn into something worthwhile. He can be found in the most disparate of places.

Unknown said...

Joseph's poems create worlds within themselves which are often preferable to reality!

Yousei Hime said...

Joseph is a poet to watch. His ability to collage images, connecting and distinguishing in duet, is a delightful challenge to all poets. I encourage all to discover his blog as well.

Karen said...

I must add my voice of praise for Joseph's poetry. He has the uncanny ability to slip into the skin of his poem and make it breathe.

Tumblewords: said...

I, too, am a fan of the prolific and provocative Joseph Harker. His work is amazing in its strength and yet a sly gentleness burrows its way inside. Until It's Gone is a wonderful read.

Carol Steel said...

I love the ability to surprise yet remain hauntingly familiar in Joseph Harker's poetry. It is breathtakingly wonder-filled.