Month: January 2018
My poem, “Probability Theory,” just published in J Journal: New Writing on Justice
Here’s a poem that I’m proud to have published in J Journal, which is affiliated with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at CUNY. And here’s a link to the journal’s online section, Writings on Writing, in which I talk about the dual spheres I feel I live in these days, and the challenge of finding the right tone for a poem that raises social justice and environmental issues. If you’d like to read more, click here:
http://jjournal2.jjay.cuny.edu/jjournal/?attachment_id=1025
Probability Theory
I’ve been trying to get dressed
in time to take out the recycle bins
but my daughter’s just called
from New York to FaceTime
with my granddaughter
so I’ll definitely let the tins
of cat food sweat it out
with the plastic milk
and humus containers
in their bin on the back porch
just before she called
a climate scientist said on the radio
we have probably 100 years
to prevent total climate catastrophe
and if we had the technology of 100 years ago
with the 7 billion of us alive today
we’d for sure be goners
though if we had the population
of 100 years ago and today’s technology
we’d sail right through
but there’s almost a 50/50 chance
given today’s population
whether today’s technology
can actually save us that’s only
a few generations away
and my granddaughter has no idea
what kind of world she’s been born into
and I don’t want to miss a single glimpse
of her happily stacking and snapping
the interlocking parts of her
Duplo blocks together even though
they’re cheap LEGO® knockoffs
that came in a huge zippered plastic bag
from TJ Maxx by way of China
and there’s probably better than
a 50/50 chance they don’t work
as well as the real thing