Havik: Inside Brilliance

Crown XIX
Poetry
Theresa Tmekei Peterson
Winchester, California, USA
Recall, wretched beings, the warnings given
While I was still young and weak
A few bodies under yellow stars and red was
all the havoc I wreaked
Even on my name day when I was discovered
Shelter you still did not seek
Traveling through skies like migratory birds
You all helped me reach my peak
Embrace is not needed with air as my ride
And death, my compatriot
In truth, my job is hard when you hide inside
I encourage all to riot
Your leaders close borders and issue more
masks
As hospitals overflow
But everything is now too little too late
Your vaccines still come too slow
Millions have fallen to my gentle caress
You cannot fathom my art
You all should learn to fear my faceless
presence
Or be wheeled off in a cart
I have delivered many to my good friend,
Death
We relish your pain and cries
But those governments who had time to
prepare
Am I at fault for who died?
All this happened, more or less.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
Bookshelf Prophesy
Poetry
Carl "Papa" Palmer
University Place, Washington, USA
(opening sentences)
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
It was a bright cold day in April
1984, George Orwell
and the clocks were striking thirteen.
We started dying before the snow,
Tracks, R. Davidson
and like the snow, we continued to fall.
(closing sentences)
We are lost in darkness and distance. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
and not enough to see by.
Cat’s Eye, Margaret Atwood
After tomorrow, another day
Are there any questions?
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
So that in the end, there was no end. The Tree of Man, Patrick White
We shall never again be as we were. Wings of the Dove, Henry James
25