Zebulon Huset

Balancing Act

 

1.

On the opposite side of the planet

the moon hangs over the ocean

screened by muslin of cirrus and stratus,

and slowly spins its top-like self

to keep from the sharp edge of boredom.

And yes, elsewhere there is war.

Death, beatings, slavery and starvation

(we tell ourselves, as though it were

only happening very far away).

But, yes, there are rice krispie treats,

down comforters, slapstick and nuance.

 

2.

Stephen Dunn wrote of a broken-down car

in the drifts of a wintry freeway,

and how everyone passing was in the same cold

and how that is enough, in some places,

to motivate humanity unto the humane.

And even if you're a very literal person,

and think climate change is neither cyclical

nor man-made, notice the goosebumps,

sometime, of the strangers who pass

watching the passing of their own feet

faceless and nameless and almost invisible.

Zebulon Huset is a teacher, writer and photographer living in San Diego. His writing has recently appeared in Meridian, The Southern Review, Fence, Rosebud, Atlanta Review & Texas Review among others. He publishes the writing prompt blog Notebooking Daily and edits the journal Coastal Shelf.