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Mall Demolition
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The walkway from the parking structure
now ends in midair where the food court was.
A Shovelsaurus scoops debris into the Dumpasaurus;
the Poundasaurus jackhammers cement to fragments,
long, heron-like neck craning downward,
its head a giant dental drill.
The Snatchasaurus clamps a beam,
a Gulliverian toothpick ferried
to a mound rising higher than the mall that was--
and all these machines are painted
a happy industrial yellow.
I’d like to drive one of these monsters,
hug a tree like Wordsworth did.
My life’s too mental, I want to plow
through cinderblocks by the sweat of my brow
and leave this bucket of words behind,
tell myself I exist as surely as these
twisted ribs of anodized aluminum,
that I’m as real as all the rubble
constantly being hosed down
to quiet the dust from which we came.
Yet here are marigolds
in a surviving planter, yellow stars
with a bloodstained core.
Break off a flower, smell the peppery sap
and cross yourself: it does no good.
There is no spell against progress.
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Writer
Bio
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C.E. Chaffin is the author of Elementary (poems), released in 1997 by Mellen Press. His poetry, columns, fiction, and critical essays have been widely published on the web and in print, in publications ranging from The Alaska Quarterly Review to Zuzu's Petals. In addition, he edits the online literary journal, The Melic Review (http://www.themelicreview.com), and tutors poetry online. He lives and works in Long Beach, California.
cechaffin@hotmail.com
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Other
Pedestal Published Works
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