by Paul Ilechko
Tell me everything you know about the orange sky the way the mass of cloud hangs low at sunset and the way that colors blend and ebb into spectacle
tell me everything you know about the green at the heart of nature the rain sodden humidity that drips and soaks the sweating acres of jungle growth that twist and propagate
tell me everything you know about the fearful masses escaping the clabbered density of smoke the unbreathable air that settles beneath an orange sky that is filled with the deafening roar of guns and bombs that rattle doors and shatter glass
tell me everything you know about starvation about the bone-thin bodies of children with countable ribs and the hungry dogs that hover at the outskirts of sickness-riddled camps with their fields of shallow graves that sink into the mud of nature
tell me again about the joy of pageantry as a parade marches by in color and sound and the blare of martial music and the crowd chanting his name as the leader raises his fist and his followers cheer and call for more and more and more of the same
tell me everything you know about the way in which this world will end
Paul Ilechko is the author of the chapbooks “Bartok in Winter” (Flutter Press) and “Graph of Life” (Finishing Line Press). His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including Juxtaprose, As It Ought To Be, Cathexis Northwest Press, Inklette and Pithead Chapel. He lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ.
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