A scream circumnavigates the world.
Is anybody listening
when the police arrive to sweep away
those for whom the last resort
is blocking traffic
to impress upon their fellow citizens
the planet is on life support
and the drivers only have a mile to go
before the ground opens up
and swallows them.
Does anybody care?
Call it Freedom; say Democracy
until it hurts; write to the highest authority
and the mail comes back
as undeliverable.
The future’s not the future
anymore. And yet it is still beautiful
when a day begins with a mountain
spreading its wings
and the sun breaking into song.
David Chorlton lives in Phoenix where he writes and occasionally paints watercolors. While his writing is usually poetry, his newest book is a true life account of a murder story from 1960s Vienna (where he lived for several years) in which one of his cousins was wrongly convicted: The Long White Glove published by New Meridian Arts.
Editor’s Note: Listen to David talk about his new book on the Word podcast (about 10 minutes in) from WJZZ.
