Short Takes
The horizon loomed
on the horizon. We choked on
Quebec’s flames;
Big Bird got fired; bastions
vaporized; our sclera red, our robot
therapists gagging on grandiosity;
Xmas gig-decorators spreading
tinsel; Sesame Street
now a development zone
needing philanthropists; men
turning man-o-spheres;
Higher Ed hitting new lows.
Data centers siphoned
water, info. A doom-com:
“When the Climate Met DSM-VI.”
Who would douse
the puppets and pundits
now on fire; can we count
on “viewers like you.”
This poem was co-published and supported by the journalism non-profit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Alissa Quart is the Executive Director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of seven acclaimed books, most recently Bootstrapped. Her poetry books include Thoughts and Prayers, available from O/R Books:
