The billions beneath have drowned
leaving tiny pink congressional skulls
to emerge as pimples in a water-fat city.
They will not survive. They are swamped
in thawed Arctic Sea ice uttering bloated
bubbles that debate and float away.
They ascend on stacks of money and hover
the Atlantic waves, awaiting the final swoon
praying for a proposal to surface.
The discussion gurgles on and on
through puffed, water-inflated robes.
The last life-preserver goes to the whitest scalp.
Donelle Dreese is an Associate Professor of English at Northern Kentucky University. She is the author of three collections of poetry, Sophrosyne (Aldrich Press), A Wild Turn (Finishing Line) and Looking for A Sunday Afternoon (Pudding House). She is also the author of a YA vignette novella Dragonflies in the Cowburbs (Anaphora Literary) and the novel Deep River Burning (WiDo Publishing). Her poetry and fiction have appeared in a wide variety of literary magazines and journals.