After Jack Gilbert
Though polar ice sheets shatter, slip
onto the ocean’s tongue
vanish as if they had never been
There will be music
though tyrants squander peace
claim what isn’t theirs — gods, temples
coins, the breath of innocents
There will be music
while smoke of one hundred souls
smothers the sky of Dora
& a belted youth turns to martyr
There will be music
while the ailing child moans
in tremors of malaria
& the exhausted mother expires
There will be music
for the bent rice planters of Somona
the grape pickers of Sonoma
for the deaf Nigerian gravedigger
There will be music
for the blushing desert sundown
the Afghan marriage feast
soon to follow
There will be music
for lovers roaming the fields of Provence
daisies swinging in swell
of summer — their buttons ablaze
There will be music
Megan Webster was an active member of SD Writer's Ink for many years as board member and poetry instructor. Her third chapbook, Bipolar Express, won a San Diego Book Award in 2004. Published by Finishing Line Press in 2006, it also was a finalist for the New Women's Voices Competition. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including, The Connecticut Review, Red River Review, ONTHEBUS, ROADS.poetry.com, Poiesis and Sunshine/Noir.
_______________________________