Page 68 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

Your open forest of stately pines (Pinus palustris)—

reduced to scattered remnants,

pinpoints on forest service survey maps.

And your watery nations and finny tribes?

Overfished, poisoned, silted in, in waters

drawn as faded red streams on river charts

like a cadaver’s arteries post autopsy.

All cheerful and gay all nature appears.

Sweet William, the Sunshine State is

a locus moribund; your universal vibration of life

but a northbound jet screaming above

your savanna, what we call Paynes Prairie,

a vast preserved grassland, alas dying of thirst.

Because you mayn’t wish to see Florida deflowered,

my Willy, please to not feel obligated

to prosecute your journey. I will understand.

I am loathe to disappoint, or worse.

With utmost affectionate concern, I remain,

Your devoted K.