the skies are so much clearer across
the border. in traffic an hour's wait
from the checkpoint, new apartments loom,
smear of faint white gouache against
night. nothing but dust where i live:
a blank canvas, tall towers, traces of human souls.
i still use and reuse plastic bags and the nearest shop
is a ten-minute walk and our island has everything
yet too much is disappearing. it all happens after the fact:
a brick crumbles before it is laid. a heart kindles
only to fold into ash. technology is the desecration
of our attention spans. a little bird tells me
all is burning and i am complicit. where's the balance,
the multivariate factors? there are a thousand ways
to die: obesity and diabetes and cancer
yet not all of them may come true. we could be fooled
into thinking life wasn't worth the trouble
but there are still fish-markets and alma maters
and obstinate screams from children playing,
real or imagined. give me a second
and i could almost believe it.