Linda Rocheleau

Civil Defense

The generation that clamored
under school desks after bidding
hasty farewells to classmates, today
navigates unfamiliar territory. Boxes
of sardines and canned milk stored
for the promised three-day vigil after
a nuclear explosion. Possible starvation
to follow. Iodine and metallic curtains
hopefully protect a family wedged in
a bathroom or pantry waiting to peer
out into hordes of  roving tribes
begging for food or ammunition.
Everyone heavily armed and seemingly
prepared. I have no guns, storehouse of
survival goods. Between considering which
bathroom in my small apartment
may protect us from fallout, and radiation
I step out to teach small children with
learning disabilities, eat Thai food, catch
a movie with apocalyptic theme.

 

Sunrise:Shadow

No matter the pull toward brink. No
                                            matter the florid, deep sleep awaits.
                                                  from Sorrow is Not My Name, Ross Gay

                               
Dream escape. Making love
to my gay hairdresser. Flying
through cities of clouds.
Waking up to another sunrise
that scatters shades of persimmon
across the mountains. Last night
I heard a poet in shadow of death
and acrimony, break through with
delight in small things. My neighbor
who saves a stray cat that soaks up sun
on his balcony. A random conversation
at the grocery store that winds into
the parking lot. A white feather found
beneath a stone in a shallow brook.
A groundhog darting across the lawn.
Laughter on the playground as kids taunt
and tease. Discovering Rita Dove’s, Playlist
for the Apocalypse. Will we survive
this tyranny? A people accustomed
to dreams and choice. Midnight McDonalds
and apple pie. Resistance and avalanches
of sorrow persist as the takeover
destroys one ambition and then another.
Day turns to nightshade and twilight.

 

 

Linda Rocheleau is a poet and teacher living in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. She has published her work in numerous small presses, including: Panoply, Chiron Review (though not in a while), and others. She enjoys living in a town that bore Thomas Wolfe.