—Headline at BBC, June 19, 2023
we are running out of
but you know that
everyone knows
what wreckage looks like
though I too have
slowed down to look I have
filled up the tank
while time was running
it’s hard to breathe
when the wind is
made of smoke and fish
can’t breathe if the water is
too warm I wonder
if there will be a last time
a storm gets named
christened like a ship
dripping with champagne
on its towering bow
how much does it cost
to get to the bottom
of everything every day
I have a sinking
feeling that we are headed
for the debris field
where search
and rescue is not an option
–
Matthew Murrey is the author of Bulletproof (Jacar Press, 2019) and Little Joy (Cornerstone Press, 2026). His recent poems are in Flyway, En•Trance, ballast, and elsewhere. He was a public school librarian for over twenty years, and he lives with his partner in Urbana, Illinois.