David Rice

Beneficiaries

We used to take our earth's health for granted. Now it's our sick child, but we haven't bought the medicine because . . . well, they are a lot of reasons. If we did get the medicine, though, it's us who'd have to take it, because we carry the virus.

I sacrifice some
you do, too
we all don't sacrifice enough
our great-grandkids
won't forgive us

Trying to figure out how to help, I keep ending up on the same dead-end path at the edge of a cliff. The industrial revolutionaries mistook invention for never-ending progress. Now we're up to the plunging.

my granddaughter coaxes me
into the river
we shiver
get out, towel off
I can still care for her

We've got decades before the climatic apocalypse peaks. There's still time to mitigate. We probably won't go extinct. Lots of us will die, and living will be far more difficult for those who don't, that's all.

wedding photograph
the grandkids don't recognize us
we won't be here
to see them
soaked or parched