by David Feela
This year will be different:
suicide bombers will be kinder,
senseless shooters more considerate,
the banks less greedy.
Congress will get to work
legislating America’s confidence
and hangovers from drunken holidays
will be covered by Medicare.
European debt will melt like polar ice
and dead movie stars will come back to life.
It will be a landmark year for self delusion.
Earthquakes, tornadoes, and oil spills
will manifest themselves
for study instead of destruction.
The homeless will begin to relish
the freedom of not owning a home.
Wildlife will adapt to the virtues
of domesticity, nuclear power plants
will generate the scent of fresh snow,
and a forest of electronic books
will be harvested by hackers,
to be left on the virtual doorsteps
of overcrowded online schools.
An abducted child will be found
alive -- the police apprehending
a network of journalists who suggested
that things would not turn out
as well as they did.
David Feela writes a monthly column for The Four Corners Free Press and for The Durango Telegraph. A poetry chapbook, Thought Experiments, won the Southwest Poet Series. His first full length poetry book, The Home Atlas appeared in 2009. His new book of essays, How Delicate These Arches (Footnotes from the Four Corners), has just been released through Raven's Eye Press.
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