Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Close Calls by Joseph Harker

This planet's going to hell: either wrapped up
in a suffocating shroud of coalsmoke
or boxed away between six thick planks of sin,
maybe starved of liquid capital
or drowned with disease: one way or another.
The End Times are a moveable feast that is always
next year.
Though,
given all the times we played chicken on the racetrack
with atoms and nuclei, the bottles of plague
just waiting to be shattered and re-debuted,
comet fragments blowing out boreal candles on a
Siberian birthday cake (rather than smashing into
Berlin or Beijing), it's a wonder
we haven't been burnt to a memorial cinder
already.
We could
keep worrying about either side of the present, but
imagine how foolish we'd feel if we almost
lived our lives, and missed it, just by
this
much.














Joseph Harker,

3 comments:

Raven's Wing Poetry said...

Hello Joseph: Some gorgeous writing here, and bears out something I've believed all along -- if the world ends, it will be humanity's doing. We will be the horsemen, the locusts, and the AntiChrist combined. Also, I love the entire poem's emphasis about living life in the present rather than being consumed in worry. Great write.

-Nicole

Karen said...

Joseph is one of the finest poets on the web. Thank you for bringing this work to us.

Unknown said...

hi dear, wonderful post.really good work.
beautiful-travelling places