Burning World

(laundry to do)

If you try to change it, you will ruin it. If you hold it, you will lose it.

–Lao Tzu

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Tree Detail (Heidelberg, 2025)

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Burning World

The world is slowly burning
and I have laundry to do.

Though toxicologists agree
microplastics in detergent
form carcinomas of the gut.

In this slowly burning world
I need to read history books
like a desperate gambler
sizing up the jockeys.

But I can’t drink black coffee
or risk inflaming my heartburn.

So, walking to the grocery store
I pass iron behemoths mawing
gorges deep underground.

And detergent is half off
if you buy a carton of milk.

The book I’m reading says:
In the stables, a wet beast
is gouging its muddy track.
Its nostrils billow and flare.

But I have friends to write
congratulate for weddings
the birth of a second child
completing a grad degree.

And you, holding me in hand
to love, to cherish, to abide
today, tomorrow, this year—

Do I know a couple who
were drinking macchiatos
on vacation in Buenos Aires
when a tree limb fell on ‘em?

When I called to ask how
the recovery was going
nobody answered—

The world is slowly burning
so I’m drifting up Broadway
cutting across the park
watching lovers on blankets
thinking of friends turned red.

In this slowly burning world
men on horseback encircling
a gorgeous ancient oleander 
are panting pavement sheen.

Can you not smell its blossom
nor taste its bitter taproot?

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