TURBINE | KAPOHAU

KERRIN P SHARPE

 

never

 

I hope the Nenets
never leave this poem

never dread the deep freeze
that follows warm rain

never see reindeer
stamp and click their hooves
worry the moss and lichen

grow weak
starve
lie down
never walk again

never watch heat waves
melt the permafrost
release anthrax
poison reindeer
a small boy

never help the herd
cross fields of roads
force them under rafters
                            of pipes
force them under the arms and legs
                             of pipes

never hear the gas flare’s
hungry song
                              at Bovanenkovo