‘Prayer for the Mutilated World’
— Joyce Chong
after phone lines do nothing
but cut the sky into sheet music
& our phones are just expensive
bricks of metal & glass
When at times it feels as if there is more to fear and worry and dread than there is to look forward to, there is nothing more important than small reminders. ‘Prayer for the Mutilated World’ by Sam Sax in Poetry Magazine takes on a familiar tone, imagining a world in possibility, or inevitability.
There is the palpable sensation of meaninglessness in the face of changes made irreversible by their ubiquitousness, and the ever-deepening carving of time. Part prophecy, part lamentation, this poem also serves as a reminder. Not to forget. Where we are now, the feat that is our own capacity for feeling and creating joy, and for where we may be in the years to come. You could say it is bleak, but there is some comfort in knowing exactly where we stand. How not to take for granted what we had, or what we had taken so easily before.
i dare not consider it
instead dance with me a moment
late in this last extinction