ALLAN LAKE
★ ★ ★ ★
POETRY
Here, After
Oceans of coral and fish, forests of birds,
herds of bison, packs of wolves
stroll along overgrown highways
because lifeless cities stand still
as reminders of nothing to nobody.
What blessed event eliminates just us
is left to fertilized imaginations.
Animals devour plants or each other
on gopher prairie, slowly shifting
mountain goat ranges. Mount Etna
erupts as spectacularly without
spectators with clever cameras
who feel a need to insert their faces
in instants starring themselves.
Relieved planet goes blithely on,
never needed our genius for photo-
graphy, agriculture or commerce,
for fashion or war or self-delusion.
Here’s what’s left of Nature post anthro-
pocene because there’s no anthro to exploit
all else, to make unnatural obscene scenes.
Snake would never tempt monkey again;
backfired badly the first time. House cats?
They simply return to their real jobs.
Originally from Saskatchewan, Allan Lake has lived in Vancouver, Cape Breton Island, Ibiza, Tasmania and Melbourne. Lake won Lost Tower Publications (UK) Competition 2017 and Melbourne Spoken Word Poetry Fest/The Dan 2018. Poetry Collection: Sand in the Sole (Xlibris, 2014). Poetry Chapbook (Ginninderra Press, 2020): My Photos of Sicily.
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Pictures and story in a glorious obituary as some great cosmic eye looking into a reverse crystal ball.