by Imogen Arate
Old games parade as old storms churn
into nebulous knots to hypnotize the
engaged gaze and whip the bewitched
Ouroboros to stalk and swallow its own
Tail then torso then head tuck into
singularity's impish wicked wink
before the glutted ingestion implodes
to gush diarrheal waterfalls
We gawk at the wondrous displays
disasters dazzle before the eyes
as brittle bones crack to form the
new veins of sanguine traffic lanes
Crimson lanterns blink our woes
as greenbacks slush to blanch hope
from budding evergreen while slid mud
pools to crackle as scorched summer bark
Ancient feast-and-famine tales we
fantasize to tell as spirits of our progeny
braid their flickering lifelines into the wispy
fingers of another atmospheric stream
into nebulous knots to hypnotize the
engaged gaze and whip the bewitched
Ouroboros to stalk and swallow its own
Tail then torso then head tuck into
singularity's impish wicked wink
before the glutted ingestion implodes
to gush diarrheal waterfalls
We gawk at the wondrous displays
disasters dazzle before the eyes
as brittle bones crack to form the
new veins of sanguine traffic lanes
Crimson lanterns blink our woes
as greenbacks slush to blanch hope
from budding evergreen while slid mud
pools to crackle as scorched summer bark
Ancient feast-and-famine tales we
fantasize to tell as spirits of our progeny
braid their flickering lifelines into the wispy
fingers of another atmospheric stream
Imogen Arate is an award-winning Asian-American poet and writer and the Executive Director of Poets and Muses which hosts a poetry podcast that won second place at National Federation of Press Women's 2020 Communications Contest, where Imogen had served as a national-level poetry judge in 2021 and 2022. You can follow her @PoetsandMuses and @ImogenArate on Twitter and Instagram.