The Warming
Overcoats hang
in closets like drying pelts
which, indeed, they are,
scarves strewn like otters
on a sunny riverbank.
Now water is nowhere
and sun promises no rain
no gray sky variations,
only lightning infusions
into remaining parched earth.
We slouch in living rooms
blinds slanted, sunglasses on,
the great out-of-doors just
a picture no longer
tactile, no longer
breathable nor real.
Time was nakedness
was for sporting, now survival,
tattoos indicating
“Return to Sender.”
Ray Greenblatt has most recently been published in Amethyst Review, Eunoia, Loch Raven, Moonstone, North Dakota Quarterly, and Philadelphia Stories. His forthcoming book of poetry is the final volume four of THIRTEENERS.
