By Thomas Piekarski
PROMPT — If only ...
There is much disclosure of facts
about mankind's impending fate,
but our human faculties fall short
of altering those forces in charge
that shape eventual consequences.
The foolhardy and faint of heart
skirt responsibility, shoo lessons
of enlightenment from soft heads,
ignore nature's edicts, their fright
casting shadows upon what's right.
We're warned, yet casually embrace
lame apps and movies, seek romance
so to inculcate them in one big wave
of circumstance. And no matter what
that wave will keep on rolling along.
But alas this lengthy Carquinez Strait,
waterway across which the steel bridge
is obscured by haze as seagulls squawk
and drift with a relentless easterly wind
while moss along the shoreline gleams.
Thomas Piekarski is a former editor of the California State Poetry Quarterly. His poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including Taj Mahal Review, Poetry Quarterly, Literature Today, Poetry Salzburg, South African Literary Journal, The Frogmore Papers, and many more. His books of poetry are Ballad of Billy the Kid, Monterey Bay Adventures, and Mercurial World. Thomas writes from Sacramento, California.