022023

A blank-verse sonnet.

The creek ran red with corpses then, both of
the crimson algae from the old doc's lab
they couldn't live below the Shell plant's pipe
and everything that tried to eat them died
their enzymes deadly to all flesh so said
the science teacher from the school we found
floating, bullet hole between his eyes
day after the big meeting where he spoke

From bad to worse the summer went from there
folks heard some things among the trees at night
the deer were gone, so this was something else
our kids and even dogs were kept indoors
the livestock long since gone we watched all night
we eased the safeties off when neighbors screamed