An earthquake in Borneo
Villages crumble and tumble into the sea
while the sun sets on my solid patio and
the wine tastes suddenly sour so
I must drown the anxiety in another glass
Fifty five thousand pigs killed
in a fire on a farm in Germany
As I have breakfast their
sad snouts ruin my appetite and
my vegan resolve reignites
Two murderers have escaped
from a jail in Ukraine
Why am I not there to placate anxious townspeople to
scour the streets and petition for better security but
I walk fearfully through the brightly lit streets of my CBD
Another patch of coral has died
on the Barrier Reef
so I might never see a loggerhead turtle and
I lie awake regretting the family holidays when
I’m sure I threw a water bottle into the sea
A mystery brain disorder
Forty five people in northern Canada
From seventeen thousand kilometres away I
feel their pains, memory loss, vision decline and
see the certainty of a feeble future
Four students are dead
in a US high school shooting
Somehow I have failed to change a world where
deranged children have no other option so
I book an appointment with a counsellor
The gestalt of daily living
Is hijacked by the grand narrative of disaster
Individual esemplastic power is overruled by guilt
Peace, if it’s there, is liminal
Peace is liminal