Cesar Caballos’s “Ocean Rising”
by Rachel Larson
Turquoise waters rise over a silver metropolis
to meet a cotton candy sky swirling
with pinks and purples against
the gray steel of the drowning skyline.
No people, just a swarm of golden fish in this sunken city.
I wonder where the people have gone now
that the ocean has staked its claim on the Earth.
Like Atlantis, were we too golden?
Did we need to be buried?
Mother Earth sighed, releasing a breath–the wave that covered us.
I can’t blame her.
How much abuse can you take before you
burn the bridge, break the dam,
and devour the pain
that hurts you?