Dry here in this city
Drowning in still waters
Where the dark gray looms
Across the fluorescent
Streetlights that are flickering.
There is a crack in their turf
Where they used to play.
The desert has less heat at night.
The cobblestone deteriorates
Beneath a crumbling foundation:
Layers of our ancestors hard work.
They kicked up the dirt and laid it down
Again along with streets to follow.
They had hope. The tree swing
Is a mystery buried beneath
The mud of a forgotten fish pond
Where there are no more minnows.
The pond, once a hallmark of city hall,
Smells of rot and dead fish.
They said we could take them
If it meant we could live.
I left in my station wagon
After my fill for my stomach
That had long gone empty.
There are no more stars to see
Amid a crescent of white
Obscured by the clouds
Now looking like sea foam.
And the voices of children
Were muffled amid
The titanic-like waves –
An apocalypse really and
They gave no warning.
We froze then thawed
In the dry heat
And when it all evaporated
We were left like the fish.
When it was all over,
The future faltered
And cowered because the past
Was never what they said
It would be.
_____________________________________________
The Future
by Candace Meredith
BIO: Candace Meredith earned her Bachelor of Science degree in English Creative Writing from Frostburg State University in the spring of 2008. Her works of poetry, photography and fiction have appeared in literary journals Bittersweet, The Backbone Mountain Review, The Broadkill Review, In God’s Hands/Writers of Grace, A Flash of Dark, Greensilk Journal, Saltfront, Mojave River Press and Review, Scryptic Magazine, Unlikely Stories Mark V, The Sirens Call, The Great Void, BAM Writes, Foreign Literary, Lion and Lilac Magazine, The Green Shoe Sanctuary Literary Journal, Setu Magazine, Impspired Magazine and various others. Candace lives in Virginia with her two sons and her daughter and fiancé. She earned her Master of Science degree in Marketing and Communications from West Virginia University. Candace is the author of various books titled Contemplation: Imagery, sound and Form in Lyricism (a collection of poetry), Losing You (a novella collection), Winter Solstice (book 1 of a 4 book series): The Crone (book 2), The Lady of Brighton (book 3), Summer Solstice (book 4 in progress) and her recently published children’s books A-Hoy Frankie! Your Riverboat Captain, Matilda Gets Adopted, Who Farted?, Andre the Broken Tea Cup Goes to the Market and forthcoming Nola Plays Baseball, Little Blue Shoe and Girls Drive Jeeps. Candace is also the author of several novels and stories being adapted for film.
Check out her website at www.candacemeredithbooks.com
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