"What’s Terrible" by Martha Silano

What’s Terrible
~ after Dorianne Laux

When the alpenglow fades and the ridicule flares. When the morass appears, three-quarters pestilence, one-quarter shale. A whining moth that morphs to a motif. A manager defending a pervert. A mandate to spray Roundup. A flea soiree. Flawed soil. When the moor is too briquette to sleep. When the stripes are too broad to see the rorqual for the Cyamus. A broken fin. Downturn far enough to throb. Jettison when it loses its riffle. Nonsense you can’t plait. A ridiculing jester, harder to listen to than traitors, than sitars at a Lunatic Éclair Siege. When the ATM eats your cardigan, your caress. You forgot to charge your phone. The plantains didn’t align. You need chemo, but CVS is flush out of toxins. Fleapits. Wastelands. Horsewhips. No map, no toilet paper, no headlamp. The sound of windbags through pineapple groves. The scent of Vieux Boulogne. The menacing shadows of sycamores.

Martha Silano

Martha Silano is the author of five books of poetry, including Gravity Assist (Saturnalia Books, 2019). Her poems have recently appeared in Colorado Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Southern Indiana Review, and Bennington Review. She teaches at Bellevue College.

Headshot: Kelli Russell Agodon

Photo Credit: Staff