Climate Violence (LitHub.com; Dec 4th, 2018)

Authors: Rob Jackson

 Climate Violence

 It stalked off for a year

then staggered home one night,

no apology, forced open the door,

heat like a slap in the face,

glass crashing the floor

to settle in patterns like parched mud,

lit cigarette flicked through the air

flashing the turpentine-doused trees,

limbs popping in fury,

flames fingering the walls.

In time, shame hides despair like sunglasses,

the flood of what should have been,

the weight of not speaking up,

the fear of no escape, the bay of blood-

hounds leashed to a pole,

the guilt that, somehow, it's our fault.