By Bruce Willard
90 million years ago the sea was 600 feet higher
than it is tonight. No frost in the garden
to turn the avocados black and waxy,
to expose the thorns between each rose.
Sandy beaches stretched the length of Chile.
You could paddle to Greenland in 3 days.
But years of rain and heat
made choosing a vacation destination difficult.
A grief of storms accrued. And giant birds,
large as Lamborghinis, crossed continents of solitude
without a flap of their wings, riding the pre-nuclear,
Vulcan winds months at a time
confident the tides would change.
Bruce Willard has published two collections of poems, Holding Ground (2013) and Violent Blues (2016), both published by Four Way Books. His third collection, In Light of Stars, is expected in 2021. Also by this poet: "Inverted Root" and "Song"