By DON SHARE and JOHN KINSELLA
17.
The cicadas come every…
How many years? The cycles
Are all fucked up now. Even
Insects know the end is near.
The emerald ash borer looks
Like a jewel; its value
Lies in destructiveness to
Species—ours—that feed on ash.
18.
Dead shade—wandoo crown decline—
And mortal remains arrive
Here—an increase in sightings—
Living dead. Each moment counts.
Orbweaver drops off its perch.
Fly is caught in its own web.
Beetle flies the mesosphere.
I’ll sleep on it, wake again.
19.
Bob’s bird Spinoza reads books.
I don’t know what kind of bird
It is; I don’t know what kind
Of bird reads so quietly.
20.
Horsfield’s bronze cuckoo claims back
Self-naming rights—nomadic,
It’s at the front door saying,
‘My green back, black strike-thru eyes.’
21.
Robert E. Lee, still in bronze—
Will you surrender again?
Dismount, Sir, for the Union.
[Here insert emoticons]
22.
So, Captain Cook ‘discovered
This territory’?—the proof’s
A statue. Indigenous
Peoples take note. Railroading.
23.
Uncivil wars: if you’re not
With me, you’re antifa me.
No one leads in effigy.
Let these crowds part, and depart.
24.
March is a walk in the park?
Deer hunting is seasonal
Like hay fever? Gun lobby
Is a hobbyhorse for Death.
Don Share is editor of POETRY. His books include Wishbone, Union, and Bunting’s Persia; he also edited a critical edition of Basil Bunting’s poems and a selection of Bunting’s prose. His translations of Miguel Hernández received the Times Literary Supplement’s translation prize and Premio Valle-Inclán. His other books include Seneca in English; Squandermania; The Open Door: 100 Poems, 100 Years of POETRY Magazine; and Who Reads Poetry: 50 Views from POETRY Magazine. His work at POETRY has been recognized with three National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors and a CLMP Firecracker Award for best literary magazine.
John Kinsella is the author of over forty books. His most recent poetry work includes the volumes Drowning in Wheat: Selected Poems and Insomnia, which will be released in the U.S. by W. W. Norton in fall 2020. Recent fiction includes the story collections Crow’s Breath and Old Growth, and the novels Lucida Intervalla and Hollow Earth. He often works in collaboration with other poets, artists, musicians, and activists. He is a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and Professor of Literature and Environment at Curtin University, Western Australia.
