permafrost

(lyrics adapted from the poem of the same title by suzannah evans, published in space baby by nine arches press. reproduced by permission of the publisher ninearchespress.com)

the soil has been holding things under

burping out the worst of it

the bodies of mammoths

and those we lost to avalanches

anthrax ready to sting black whips into our skin

they say there is smallpox bubbling down there too

preserved in decades of ice

when i was small my parents told me of

a woman with long red hair and

a beautiful name driven by curiosity

to crack the lid on everything bad that existed

and now we are living in the wide open box

losing the protection of the permafrost

the world is un-put-backable

a seething heap of snakes

and headlines of creepy men in macs outside the school gates

and illnesses that make you die

and the vet that put the dog to sleep

and tombstones in the cemetery

that lean closer every time you blink