The bridge to platitudes is girded by mass shootings,
paved with cancer and Covid, bolted with the alloy-
thoughts ‘n prayers we shorten to TP and roll-out
on comment feeds that speed our trips on meth
soaked smog clogged arteries. Thin strings of good
intent form garbage connections – a truck barrels
toward a barge to vomit its’ junk on a stewing sea,
a trash waterfall crashes down its creaking back spews
remnants of lives piling on piles until the savers
smother and dozers dig the pieces arranged as a maze
that led from bed to sink – a poet’s ink – towering papers
sticky with promise – sculptured sloppy berms that topple,
collapse between the lines. What rivets fail feigned empathy,
cheap compassion cut into tiny blank white squares
a feeble tear tears – thoughts ‘n prayers.
About the Poem
My poem Let’s Address Our Aging Infrastructure, Man seeks to capture the news story about President Joe Biden’s quest to figure out how to fund the fixing up of the failing infrastructure in the U.S. and prevent future failures. I suggest that the physical state of things is tied to our surface interactions in a cultural sense- the bad connector roads and bridges- some connecting major commuter routes, others failing rural communities-are an apt metaphor for the pat responses we casually offer to others instead of digging into deep emotions and caring action. Our cultural infrastructure is problematic. External failings are a direct reflection of our internal decay.
About the Author
Krista Genevieve Farris writes about anything and everything from her home at the Top of Virginia in Winchester. Links to her published poems, stories and essays can be found on her writer’s website.