In a universe
Where galaxies are as common
As grains of sand
There’s a blue planet
Where love evolved.
An old man dreams a disaster
Covered everything
With an inch of water.
He threads a worm on a hook
And casts it
To the other side of the room
He catches two fish
Shaped like pie plates,
Thin as half dollars,
Bright as polished silver,
One for his family,
One for the hungry stranger
Waiting at the door.
—
Joe Lamb, founder of the Borneo Project, is a writer, activist, and arborist living in Berkeley, California. His poetry and essays have appeared in Earth Island Journal, The Sun, Caliban, Wind, Orion, Nostos, and other magazines. His work is also included in the anthologies The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology (Robert Bly et al editors), and Veterans of War/Veterans of Peace (Maxine Hong Kingston, editor).
