At the End of the World
At the end of the world,
there are men in uniform
cracking heads by day,
going home to meatloaf, the wife,
and Monday night football.
At the end of the world,
there is Wall Street occupied,
and in small town America,
grocery stores going up with cases
of Mountain Dew piled to the ceiling
and walls of potato chips,
walls of toothpaste. No flavor
should be left untried
but freshen up after, please.
At the end of the world,
there is iEverything.
iTunes, iTouch, iPhone, iDeny
There are fly-encrusted
skeletons, posing as children
at the end of the world
where they have been left
with no food ever since I can remember.
No amount of plate-cleaning
has managed to end their suffering.
At the end of the world,
there are oil-soaked birds pinned
to the shoreline and bodies;
some falling, some floating.
Once, there was an Arab Spring
and farmers on tractors,
who came to plow and start over.
—Lisa Vihos, Sheboygan, WI
