Wednesday, January 11, 2023

ON THE CLOCK

by Diana Morley


The world’s torrid future is etched in the crippled kidneys of Nepali workers. Kidney disease has become epidemic among Nepali migrant laborers working in the extreme heat of the Persian Gulf, presaging the world's climate change future. Photo: Sak Bahadur Chhantyal, 48, was working on a construction site in Oman for six years before he was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. He has been on dialysis at the National Kidney Center in Kathmandu for almost two years. (Sagar Chhetri) —The Washington Post, January 6, 2023


Surely it’s time.

Time to say
we’re fueling 
our pot 
heating on
high

now scalding 
our insides 
after shriveling 

our skin 
raising black spots
burned not tanned
where we sit
not 

stirred— 
to get up
in uproar
to say 

our kidneys 
now cooking
like 

beans.


Diana Morley has published poems online and in journals as well as two books of poetry and a photographic/poetic documentary of Oregon’s 2020 wildfire and renewal. She writes and resides in North Carolina.