by Erika Wright
Doomsday Clock, December 1987
kitchen table, beside a bay window / winter in southeast Texas /
dark at dinnertime / my parents / keep the news on / Dan Rather /
announces/ time can move/ in reverse/ doomsday clock / sets back
3 minutes to midnight / mutually assured
destruction avoided/ my family in negative / I consider the absence
of them / shadows burned / into the stucco / mid-bite, forks raised /
a square of pork chop on a tine / what happens if time accelerates /
if the second hand ticks / tick ticks / what happens if we reverse /
backwards motion / was it ever 5 minutes / 8 minutes / was it ever
an hour / what happens / if I’m a grown up / kitchen table,
bay window / dark at dinnertime / 89 seconds to midnight
my children pillars of salt / my husband a tower of ash / before I had
time to sit down at the table / before I had time to force the hands back /
before I had time to force the hands back / before I had time to sit
down at the table / my husband a tower of ash / my children pillars of salt/
89 seconds to midnight / dark at dinnertime / kitchen table,
bay window / if I’m a grown up / what happens / was it ever
an hour / 8 minutes / was it ever 5 minutes / backwards motion /
what happens if we reverse / tick ticks / if the second hand ticks /
what happens if time accelerates / mid-bite, forks raised /
a square of pork chop on a tine / into the stucco / shadows burned /
I consider the absence of them / my family in negative / mutually assured
destruction avoided / sets back 3 minutes to midnight / doomsday clock /
in reverse / time can move / announces / Dan Rather / keep the news on /
my parents / dark at dinnertime / winter in southeast Texas / kitchen table,
beside a bay window
Poet Erika Wright (she/her) has been writing, reading, and performing poetry since 1996. She has had a few careers, from data entry specialist for online restaurants to attorney to, most recently, head of school at a small, independent learning community. Throughout, she continued to write and has performed her poetry in coffee shops, dive bars, and local bookstores. Her work has appeared in Stirring: A Literary Collection, Sky Island Journal, and San Pedro River Review and is upcoming in CALYX and a Texas Review Press anthology. She currently lives in Snohomish, Washington.
Artist Mauro Marinelli is an artist who lives and works on his farm in Spencer, New York.
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