Rachel Beneway

A Reaction to the Doomsday Clock

January 22, 2015
—three minutes to midnight—
due to climate change.

In blue woods, one

tamarack tree snacks

on tattooed sun. Some

cut their    throats

to implore more 4x4s,

spreadsheets, keyboards.

In limbo,        frogs bite

dogs. The house

atop the falls    rains

        only tumbleweeds,

no seeds. Look out

your bay window.

Your flowers now

sound like hurricanes,

in this place     where clouds

mud streets        and rights

swing deep

in hot ruin.

Oceans are plastic, the sky

smells like science.

Kissing to bruise says

a watering can

spewing        gasoline

Wavering from the soft unsaid,

what demands

importance

is a torment.


Rachel Beneway is a senior English education major and creative writing minor at SUNY Fredonia. She has previously been published in Gandy Dancer and Fredonia’s literary magazine, The Trident. She would love to befriend Junie B. Jones.