You Cannot Save Here

Anthony Moll

December 17, 2019

               The few others who washed up
               here with us passed away from
               boredom and despair — Cid Del Norte Marquez

My favorite apocalypse
happens halfway through
as in, everything comes down
and you’ve got to keep going

as in, you are witness
to the trappings of classic
catastrophe: a shake, a shock-
wave, separation, your memories

split open and what’s left
is a pitch you recognize
as the wind and an undone coast
that whispers behind you: loss. loss.

a whole year has passed
everything washed in an autumn
palette and a dove or dying elder
insists an elsewhere and someone

you knew is alive out there
and you’ve got to keep going