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As for the future, we’re at the top now,
ready to start sliding, picking up speed
approaching the bottom, where we careen
in the wildest way out of our control.

The future was once guided by the past.
Now the old days catch us like a boulder
left out of sight all these years one present
passed the last going fast toward the future.

Now there is no nature that does not rip
through the sky’s roof to take us by surprise.
Men who want total power are the same
sans surprise. They have souls that wield sharp bones.

Men want women to stay in the dark caves
attending to them when they bring home meat.
They get what’s left on the bone. Their children
pour out of their wounded bodies. We live

a moment before beginning to die.
That’s life in the city, in the country.
Best to wander the earth’s open fields
before walking the city’s streets and towers.

(28 March 2013)  

copyright 2013 by Floyce Alexander