VI
twenty-five thousand five hundred and sixty-six
as the smoke pre-echoes its wildfire,
as we know, quite soon, again,
we’ll steep to our knees in sewage,
we go toward a goal that is not
the light which guides
the dead to their decomposing,
but the light of a lakeside escape,
a forested safehouse,
a lavendered highway,
those daisies we braid
for our crowns,
the lake warm enough
to swim to the center,
the mountains
in every direction,
green with conifers
and the sound
of summer’s music,
the noise even closer
but we can’t hear it
twenty-six thousand two hundred and ninety-five
The Republic of Home is available from The Blasted Tree Store
Featured by The Blasted Tree: August 6, 2022
Leslie Joy Ahenda
Contributing Author
The Republic of Home by Leslie Joy Ahenda is a Blasted Tree original collection of poetry.
ISBN [Digital]: 978-1-987906-92-9
Cover Design by Kyle Flemmer