appeasement

“Appeasement”, “Lament of the One-Wish Djinn” and “The Last Earth Day (22 April 2112)”

In Poetry Issue Nine by Douglas Borer

last earth day

Appeasement

What you did wasn’t so bad

so you told yourself

as you stood in the garage, waiting for hope.

Hope for appeasement by an ex-best friend

but the rusting white chariot that slowed then accelerated

was Tundra not Tacoma


No, you’re right, it was terrible

to live without love

in small rooms with flawed creations,

the trivial handiwork of a dream gone bad


Do you know the grail is not mine to give

only yours to take

by query of due decorum


Dreaming is the only time you breathe

But you must find a way to die

to live


I suppose you were right

Mine was a failure to stand forever

Confusing liberty for freedom

is a blunder I should not make


When I think about this life

I think of Tintagel, the life we led,

of secret grottos that open only in starlight

of heady ale, meat and laughter

now veiled in a fog of loss

like Chamberlin after Munich

never to rise again

Lament of the One-Wish Djinn

Six years back…


said the Harvson

what I wouldn't give for a drink at this bar

thought the Djinn

a worthy wish


The bottle rubbed

the elixir glugged

a mighty spell be cast


Six years forward


a shrouded portal

on the threshold of gracious shores

in glory and ruin of a light and dark

so deeply tinted and keenly burnished

that only four strands

in God’s beard could gleam

this finely gray


Is thy sword riven Harvson?

Do you seek the Crone?


Herin lies the passage to the hidden forge

of the black handed smith

her anvil a womb

where death hath no dominion

but can be hammered with molten drachma

pilfered from the crucible at the jester's mint


Life is a song

of humility and smelted courage

when there is no luck to be had

only coin to be paid


said the Harvson

brother, can you spare a silver dime?

thought the Djinn

my old bottle is long gone dry

The Last Earth Day (22 April 2112)

When the last of us departs

in the stiffened arms of the next to last

will the Great Mother take notice


Or will Earth spin on in silent harmony

Deliberately marshaling a horizon of infinite futures

but caring naught

in steadfast eternal divinity

the trivial infestation

that was human

that was us


Or will Earth schedule a neighborhood recital

singing baritone in 3-part harmony

with the Moon’s tenor and Mars’ bass

A mournful ballad titled ‘The Last Earth Day’

to mark the passing of minion creatures

sharp in mind

dull in wisdom

soft in heart

doomed by their nature

to despoil it


Or will Gaia strut a solo rave of tectonic glee

Quaking earth

Spewing lava

Hurling glorious effervescent tsunamis

one after another

for eons in ecstasy

of shedding our stink


Whatever way

How fine it would be

if the earth deigned notice

when the last of us departs

About the Author

Douglas Borer

DA Borer lives near the shore of the Monterey Bay. In earlier years he worked as a paperboy, doodle-bugger, meat-packer, bear hunter, ranch-hand, and kelp-wrangler.

Read more work by Douglas Borer .

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