JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

It rained for forty orbits while she slept

coastal towns submerged sea full of drowning ants

she wiped the planet with some Kleenex

 

When that didn’t work she tried detergent

putty, mixed boiled rice with stuff to cure

diarrhea that had passed expiry date

 

As if to mock her came a rumbling

mountains split apart and where formerly

were deserts oceans poured – land masses broke up

 

It looks quite nice this way as well she thought

but then it started heating up, turned red

and angry and was painful to pick up even touch

 

Not willing yet to throw it out and start again

she read up ancient manuals consulted with a priest

left it in the freezer overnight – the fridge burnt down

 

Asbestos gloved she packed it in a crate of iron

and dropped it in the deepest black hole she could find

from where a symphony of bubbles soon emerged

 

Ten million revolutions later a little girl

while wandering across a desert landscape

came across it lying on its side all rusted

 

Enchanted by its dull allure she picked it up

it seemed quite warm and with a little key

she found suddenly as if by destiny

 

She open up its lock – the box burst open

and in its dark interior she found a glowing sphere

how beautiful she thought and took it home

 

Each day she rubbed and polished cleaned and waxed

it’s time to go to sleep now children, happy dreams

tomorrow night I’ll tell you more about what happened next