by Roger W. Hecht
It’s as warm as ever,
as warm as it’s ever been,
as warm as when hippos
last swam in the Thames.
Since then what’s changed?
We still walk upright in bands,
weapons drawn,
we draw our symbols,
carve instruments,
& decorate ourselves with shells
or with bones, never stopped
humming our wordless tunes.
Huddled in a damp cave
looking for relief
in this town famous for its springs
where the water’s run dry
as if we never left. And elsewhere?
Fire or flood or mass migration.
Settling history’s dust.
This interglacial, or that.
Roger W. Hecht‘s poems have appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, Gargoyle, A-Minor, Book of Matches, Redactions, and other journals. His chapbook, Witness Report, was issued by Finishing Line Press. He teaches literature and creative writing at SUNY Oneonta.
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