BOARDS OF LUMBER, NUKES OF PASSION: JOEL VAN NOORD Next Poem:....................................................................................................................................... Back to Poetry Index

A child walked next to me through a garden.
Not my child. Just a friendly
face that began to follow.

Below:
peppers and chilies,
The air:
mild, and the sun:
welcoming.

Flowers send their fragrance wafting into the nostrils.

“What’s that?” The child asks.

“It’s the thin thread in which survival hangs.”

“Why is it so thin?” He asks as we stop to pick from a strawberry patch.
Above us the bells from the University tower ring out between the
constant bubbling from the river riffling behind, from the mountain glacier
to lush valley.

I shrugged my shoulders after eating a bleeding red berry.
“That’s a good question.” I say to him, helpless.

“Should we make it stronger?” He asked in pure curiosity.
“I’d think so.” I offered.

“What happens when it snaps?” He asked. For it was taut and shaking.

“I guess we all die.” I looked to him for help.
“That’s not good.”

“No. No it’s not.”

Joel Van Noord is the author of the novel, Viral Manifesto and has written various poems, prose and essays.

Next Poem: ......................................................................................................................................Back to Poetry Index