Settlers still eat spuds,
shun dog and pheasant.
Optician/hackers have optioned vision.
Language is booby trapped.
Nocturnal growls deprive
a world of sleep.
Tiny aprons of garden
have shrunk further.
Identifying with one’s car
is no longer necessary.
Horsepower sputters
as billionaire chiefs
eliminate drivers,
erect scaffolds to Mars.
Lemurs migrate from Madagascar.
Washboards strum souls
in a zydeco revival.
No wrinkles, jowls
or pesky male chicks anymore.
Koalas extinguished,
turned to ash,
as cuteness reaches some sort of quota.
Vanquished with a flick,
pain is over.
—
As a poet, musician, and videopoetry pioneer, Heather Haley has spent her career blending forms to tell resonant stories. Her previous collections—Sideways (Anvil Press, 2003), Three Blocks West of Wonderland (Ekstasis Editions, 2009), and Skookum Raven (Ekstasis Editions, 2020)—as well as her novel, The Town Slut’s Daughter (Howe Sound Publishing, 2014) have reached audiences across North America and Europe. Beyond the page, she continues to perform as part of the indie folk/rock duo, The Pluviophiles.
