These Distant Wars

I’m not saying we have arrived at the
end of the world, the chickens come home to
roost not fowl but cold-blooded dinosaurs
that by instinct devour all metaphors,
love for God the white flame that turns us to
ashes, this green olive plucked from a jar
of peace you can smash or hold, your desire
increased by brutality, these distant
wars the world’s inheritance without end
as each generation ever brings the
cry anew, manifesting from countless
mouths at birth through limitless seasons, like
listening to a melody hundreds
of years old that your mother taught you, and
finding you’ve lost your own notion of song.

Sandra Kolankiewicz’s poems have appeared widely, most recently in One, Otis Nebulae, Trampset, Concho River Review, London Magazine, New World Writing and Appalachian Heritage. Turning Inside Out was published by Black Lawrence. Finishing Line has released The Way You Will Go and Lost in Transition.