Admonished

Proverbial train to nowhere, unoriented express

in the fast lane where outer space faces inward.

Abrogated tadpole ameliorates nothing less

than the best you’d expect it to produce.

 

Leave it to helots to rally Zombies

with their blood-curdling call for uniformity.

Those who wait for the messiah, or write

about God as though he exists are cooked.

 

Rhinos nearly extinct. Imagine

what will happen once whales go.

Love is a cancer. It spreads throughout

every organ of every universe ever.

 

Masters of gastronomy amass

the power of infinite batteries gone dead.

~ Thomas Piekarski

Thomas Piekarski is a former editor of the California State Poetry Quarterly. His theater and restaurant reviews have been published in various newspapers, with poetry and interviews appearing in numerous national journals, among them Portland Review, Main Street Rag, Kestrel, Scarlet Literary Magazine, Cream City Review, Nimrod, Penny Ante Feud, New Plains Review, Poetry Quarterly, The Muse-an International Journal of Poetry, and Clockhouse Review. He has published a travel guide, Best Choices In Northern California, and Time Lines, a book of poems. He lives in Marina, California.

Featured artwork by Amira Farooq.