It used to be
I would fall to the floor and press my forehead to it
in moments of despair
I would say help me
help me
but listen
I am ok
though I just now found myself pressing my forehead
to the carpet of my stairs
about the waters in the flooded cities
poisoned by oil spill, chemicals, the dead
about the survivors forever traumatized
dear god
I am alive I am alive
help them
"Dear God" by Alicia Ostriker, from The Book of Seventy. © University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009.Art credit: Untitled image (# 17 of 37) by Tim Wimborne / Reuters (originally color). Caption: "Oil swirls around vehicles submerged by flood waters in an industrial area of Brisbane [Australia] on Jan. 13 [2011]."
What a cry from the heart. The disaster here stands in for so many in the world.
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