we don't need an autopsy to know that we're drowning

we don’t need an autopsy

to know that we’re drowning

beyond sight

our waste bulges

brick tunnels

jam in the darkness

all that we have left behind

and lost and flushed

wedged fast

a dam of starkness.

~

there was a time

all of this was green

back when the sun

and moon steered us true

home was community

and community was home

back when sweet earth

pulsed with a shared soul.