Black Aftermath – Thomas Piekarski

I stared Genocide square in the eye,

accused it of being a foreign spy.

It laughed and said I had no business

injecting facts about its sordid record.

In my derision, I became fit to kill.

Yet, let’s take this discussion outside,

I urged, under the moonlit magenta sky

where we may mitigate our differences.

But Genocide balked, having full control.

I nothing more than some dead thought

spread throughout a cosmos of aftermath,

my glittering genesis burnt & blackened.

Thomas Piekarski is a former editor of the California State Poetry Quarterly. His poetry has appeared in numerous publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Taj Mahal Review, Poetry Quarterly, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Poetry Salzburg, and South African Literary Journal. He has published three books of poetry: Ballad of Billy the Kid, Monterey Bay Adventures, and Mercurial World.