by Brad Liening
It’s hard to tell what the greater fear is:
to be discovered or no one caring
to discover you. A holy man
thinks about it for a long time.
The earth trembles, sending up a few ghosts
while others fall into brand-new chasms.
In a century or two, people will ride
donkeys down into the now-old
chasms on tours to ooh and aah
and be bitten by poisonous snakes.
Some poisonous snakes roost in the sky
and are incorrectly identified as clouds.
Someday they will drop to earth and
it will be horrible. It’s my greatest fear.