ALTERNATIVE TIMELINES/DEATH SPIRAL

by Lucas Peel

In one, a gorilla martyrs himself to a toddler
and divulges every tragedy forthcoming.

We do not listen.

Once, the worst that could be conceived
was a shaded riverbank and stillness.

Now the only proof we need of god is poor spelling.

You once told me that all everythings end

in music, that every morning the birds plagiarize each note
from the lips of a creature no longer here to defend itself.

When a group of army ants lose the pheromone scent of their colony,
they will follow each other in a continuously rotating circle until  they
all eventually die of exhaustion.

See also: hindsight (disambiguation);
a list of times we were separated from family

in a shopping mall; slueth of bears
unresponsive to their own names.

The universally recognized symbol for grief
is the steadfast belief in ghosts; a different
shade of pink.

All miracles can be explained through standard deviation.

This morning, the keys of your old Kia sleep in the warmth of
a robin’s nest. An anatomy textbook is splayed open

on the kitchen table. The clouds blush and make room for dancing.

Lucas Peel is a _________ living in Honolulu, Hawai'i. He is sorry for yelling.