Nobody is answering their phone. Why would they?
Outside is a blaze. In every window, you see them
flame reflected in their wide eyes, some put a hand
over their mouths, others offer the full view, perfect
circles of awe or terror or both, all decorum lost
in the spectacle of the fall, the torn crust of earth.
This is how it looks to you. The divorce. The foreclosure.
The manager across the table thanking you for years
of dedicated service. The hand going limp, the cold skin,
and the moments on rewind where you look for where
it is you might have chosen better, where avoidance
was an option. The whole planet seems to be ablaze.
Maybe it’s true. The lovers in the whirlwinds. Trees
that bleed, sinners stuck in the mud asses up, the ass
of Satan himself the opposite of what anyone expects,
a tundra under which rest Judas and Mohammed,
a cold so absolute it can blind your eyes, your skin
your very heart to any light. Until someone answers.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 26, Issue 6.
J.D. Isip’s full-length poetry collections include Kissing the Wound (Moon Tide Press, 2023) and Pocketing Feathers (Sadie Girl Press, 2015). His third collection, tentatively titled Reluctant Prophets, will be released by Moon Tide Press in early 2025. J.D. lives in Texas with his dogs, Ivy and Bucky.
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