MUD SLIDE

 

Whole villages slither by downhearted

Desperate needy souls without recourse

Abandoned huts cling to hillsides

Knee deep red clay slicks

 

Stray dogs buried under rubble

Cherished family heirlooms grime infested

Pet songbird trapped behind bars

Gold cage exposing blackened ribs

 

Picking up bits and pieces

Of beloved lives devastatingly lost

Decomposed bodies clear tarpaulin mummies

Unceremoniously dumped in mass graves

 

Rancid stench permeating burial mounds

Grief-stricken anxiously trying to cope

Calloused hands digging through debris

Tragic avalanche reeking sorrowful guilt

 

Flooding heavy rains preceded disaster

Sheer bluff came crashing down

Shaky grip gritty cliff hangers-on

Struggling to rebuild eroded future

 

PoeArtry by: Charles Frederickson & Saknarin Chinayote

Co-editors of quarterly cosmozine AVANTGARDETIMES.com