Breathe water
drink the air
the animals here
before houses:
think swamping
think water the colour of time
and the sky a stainless steel
nearly as hard
as the barrier
this life/the next.
Drink the air
that breathed water
a loping, hopping
imagine it so big its shadow
among primeval grasses
still out there in the lowlands
felted pelt
and wattleseed eyes
gone/never returning.
There will be a sunrise
it will be us extinct
planet found the antidote
to chimney stack
man towers
the limbs in the cities
the round skulls
making so much
limestone
to breathe the water
drink the air
raise the light to the polished sky
a vine grows rampart
over cement.
Fantastic poem, especially the images of an extinct planet.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. Was a bit of a surprise the direction this one took!
DeleteOh that is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteReally great comparison between the breathing of water and the polluted air. Very powerful!
ReplyDelete