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?

 

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