Verdad Magazine Volume 31
Fall 2021, Volume 31
Poetry by Barry Peters
Fifteen Months
Terrified after reading
how desire recedes
inevitably. The oxytocin
stops flowing, dammed by time--
neurobiologists predicting rain
while the sun still shines.
Who are those average couples
uncoupling behind closed blinds?
We marveled at Eiffel’s tower,
his hidden rules of harmony.
We admired the ship-builders,
walked the planks of Old Ironsides.
Now, beyond the dusty window,
we can’t see the climate change,
the slow-motion ecocide.
Spring swells. Lusty rabbits
frolic in the kudzu. If we could
run a marathon every day,
we’d always be high.
BIO: Barry Peters lives in Durham and teaches in Raleigh, NC. Publications include The American Journal of Poetry, Best New Poets, New Ohio Review, Poetry East, Rattle, and The Southampton Review.