Current Situation by John Grey

As planets go, the Earth will have to do.
Can do nothing about its speed,
slow as days, as years even.
And it’s too old to spruce up.
So maybe it looks better from outer space
but who has the time.

It was born of chaos so they tell me
and I can believe that.
Despite my Bible, it feels more accident
than created.

And it’s so small that I can see all of it
on the evening news:
starvation in Africa,
students swarming in the streets of Teheran,
floods in Bangladesh,
Royal scandals from London.
But it’s still too large for me
to ever enjoy the plane ride.

Despite its feeling of crumbling
everywhere I turn,
the fresh winds,
the shifting plates, the volcanoes,
would have me believe it’s still unfinished.

And of course, the population expands
exponentially by the second.
More every day resigned
to this being the world they live in.
Or being people, that other name
for obsequious acceptance.

Author bio:

John Grey is an Australian born poet, but has been a US resident since the late seventies. He works as financial systems analyst. He was ecently published in Slant, Briar Cliff Review and Albatross with work upcoming in Poetry East, Cape Rock and REAL.