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.