CV Wild

poetry

After we're gone

After the last can of tuna has been portioned out
and the last supplement swallowed
after the last battery has leached its rusty blood into the soil
and the machines go mute the programmers obsolete 
the lawyers will all go because disputes will not be settled in court
there will be no law and order
and the accountants will go because there will be no money to count
no taxmen to cheat
the rich will lose their privilege
and the politicians will be hunted down for letting it all happen 

After the last North Americans and Europeans expire from radiation and starvation rage and rampant disease
no more drugs will be formulated
no more symphonies will be composed
the old ones forgotten
Mozart will be forgotten
the canvases of Rembrandt and Warhol consumed by mold and rot
but a few anonymous folk tunes will sound in the camps
the lines we drew in the sand will be erased 
and only natural boundaries will matter
ocean and shore
river and bank
mountain and vale
forest desert grassland
for their inhabitants to cross and recross unimpeded
the hardier ones in the South and East will get by in small numbers
their ways with the land will sustain them
and over the span of a few generations become illiterate 
before being snuffed out by disease

After the last footprints are filled in by dust and rain
the sun will continue to rise every day unmarked by any clock
the rain will still fall and not ruin a single suede boot
the flowers will still grow they will not be cut and put on a plane to be wrapped in plastic and sold in a supermarket to end up on a table for a few days
the birds will still sing for courtship and territorial defense
they never sang for us anyway
 
the planets will keep to their celestial arcs
and for billions of years the earth will continue to make unseen rainbows
unaware of her mistake

CV Wild is a Florida-based poet who writes from the dark corner of the library. His poems confront government and consumer culture, trace the fault lines of love and loss, meditate on death, and celebrate fleeting moments of grace. He has previously published non-fiction and taught internationally under another name. You can find him via YouTube @CVWild-poet.

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a literary journal for work that nourishes and lingers

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